Platycerium Cabbage

The Platycerium Cabbage may be better named Platycerium superbum Cabbage.  The Cabbage has one spore patch per fertile frond just like the P. superbum.  However other similarities are limited.  They both are found in nature in the same regions of Australia and they do not offer volunteers.  The Cabbage is a smaller platycerium than most P. superbums

Andrew Poole os Perth Australia has provided these photos from his collection of Cabbage stags.  He states they produce fronds at around 7 years of age, with the spore patch appearing on fronds a year or two later.

Andrew says in Perth the Winter is cool with max temp as low as 15 degrees Celsius with minimums at night down to about 4 degrees Celsius.  The summers can be very hot with day temps in the high 30s to low 40s Celsius.  In Summer the Platys thrive in the hot weather as long as they have water & shade from the direct sun.  In Winter most of the platys continue growing slowly although some of the tropical varieties do struggle with the cold and are almost dormant for the few months of Winter.

What would we do without the Internet.  Thanks to Tony Clarke on Facebook Planet Platycerium for providing a good image of the spore patch on P. superbum Cabbage.  This is one of the few photos of an established Cabbage showing one spore patch.  It is also a good example of how the shield fronds grow outward forming large catch basins.  Whereas most P. superbums have more vertical shield fronds.  It appears this mature P. superbum Cabbage is about 24 inches across and about 30 inches top to bottom.

 John Wilson says "Based on my limited experience with Cabbage superbums. I believe the less vertical presentation of the crown you reference above is not a characteristic of “Cabbage but rather an artifact of growing them too long in pots where the crown grows toward the appropriate orientation for a vertical mount which in a pot brings it up and then back over the bud creating what would have been a basket. The distorted shields when mounted vertically shape the crown forward. I can show you intermediate examples in  P. superbum but nothing with the fronds quite at the angle in the picture because I start with plugs and mount them on 1 X 12 redwood.  Any drooping shields are tied clear of new growth. The ruffled shape on Cabbage plants and their coarser shields make growing them out in nice form a significantly more difficult task than with the species."  He donated the image on the left.

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