Description: Bracket epiphytes, rarely growing on rocks; rhizome short-creeping, branched in some species, covered with broad papery scales.
Fronds dimorphic, both forms densely covered with stellate hairs when young; the sterile 'nest leaves' overlapping, broader than long, and embracing the spongy base of the plant, green at first, usually becoming brown with age; fertile fronds narrow, erect or pendent, dichotomously divided; venation densely reticulate.
Sporangia covering large areas of the undersurface of the fertile frond. Other epiphytes frequently grow from the 'nests'.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 18 species, pantropical to subtropical regions. Australia: 4 species, Qld, N.S.W.
Text by Peter G. Wilson
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Fertile fronds with sporangia in several patches, covering all or the greater part of the ultimate segments | Platycerium bifurcatum |
| Fertile fronds with sporangia in a single large patch 10–50 cm diam., situated in the fork of the first dichotomy of the lamina | Platycerium superbum |
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