The common staghorn fern, Platycerium bifurcatum, growing on a tree trunk in Victoria, Australia. P. bifurcatum is a native of temperate and tropical

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The common staghorn fern, Platycerium bifurcatum, growing on a tree trunk in Victoria, Australia. P. bifurcatum is a native of temperate and tropical forest, widely distributed in Africa, Asia and Eastern Australia. It is also a popular house plant and garden plant, but requires frost protection in cooler picture shows the centre of a plant commencing growth in Spring. Two types of frond are visible. The flat veined green lamella is a sterile frond; at the end of the season this will turn brown and contribute to the \nest\" made up of the dried sterile fronds of previous years ( top left ). From the centre of the sterile frond are growing a series of fertile fronds. Initially narrow with a serrated end, these develop into large forked structures bearing spores on their under surface."

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Size: 3399px × 5141px
Photo credit: © DR JEREMY BURGESS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: australia, bifurcatum, biological, biology, botanical, botany, fern, fertile, frond, garden, house, nest, plant, platycerium, spore, staghorn, sterile