EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Staghorn Fern Below the Canopy

Staghorn Fern (Platycerium superbum), Family Polypodiaceae
Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia

Explanation:  Continuing from last week's visit, this week we are still in Lamington National Park in eastern Australia.  Now our necks ache as we crank skyward to view these dense floral skirts that ring some of the larger and older trees of the park.  These are staghorn ferns, so named for their branching, antler-like appearance.

Staghorn ferns are used widely as ornamentals.  But here, in their native environment, they cling to the trunks of massive rainforest trees just below the tree canopy, catching the light with spectacular sprays of foliage.  
   

    

 

Way up high on this old-growth hoop pine, just below the tree canopy, is a staghorn fern, taking advantage of the light it can gather up so high.  (See next image below for a close-up.)

 

The green leaves of the staghorn fern are the reproductive fronds
that bear "sporangia" or spore-producing bodies.
The tan-brown mass at the base of those fronds are the
"sterile fronds" which are thick, hard overlapping layers that
grasp the tree surface.