like most other ferns. There are only 18 species
of Palyterium in the world, 4 in Australia, 3 in Africa, 4 on the island of
Madagascar, 6 in tropical Asia and in America the only one is Platycerium
andinum. Platycerium andinum has a very limited range, it only
grows on the eastern slopes of the Andes mountains and only in dry tropical
forests of N.E Peru and a small area in Bolivia. This is one of the reasons
this great fern is presently in danger of extinction.
Itīs Biology:
Platycerium andinum is an epiphite, a plant that lives on other plants,
but it is not a parasite, it makes it´s own food. Orchids also are epiphites
but Platycerium andinum is not an orchid it is a fern, it doesn´t
have flowers and reproduces by spores that are blown from one tree to another
by the wind.
A new plant begins to grow from a spore that sticks to a branch or trunk
of a tree. New plants can also form from the tips of the roots, these are
called pups. In time an original plant produces many pups forming a large
group around the tree, a "Crown".
Each plant in this crown can be has long as 2 meters (6.5 feet) and the
crown in total can be 2 or more meters wide. Of the 18 species of Platycerium
in the world, the species that is the closest relative to Platycerium andinum
is found only in the dry western part of Madagascar, East of Africa, this
species is Platycerium quadridichotomum, it is a small plant, 20 cm.
high and also forms crowns.The reason why Platycerium andinum is so large and how it crossed Africa, the Atlantic Ocean and the Amazon to San Martin is a question that science hasnīt yet been able to answer. It is a magnificent fern.
History The first scientific report of the Crown of the Angels was by British naturalist Richard Spruce who lived in Tarapoto for two years in the mid-1800's. It was described and given the name Platycerium andinum by a Mr. Baker in 1891 who gave its typical location as Tarapoto. Strangely it was then lost. One writer suggested it did not exist, that the original plant had been a garden plant native to Australia. Then in 1962, nearly 100 years after Richard Spruce, Mr. Lee Moore of Miami rediscovered one cluster of Platycerium andinum near Pucallpa, Peru. After two days of searching he located no others, but they were found near Tarapoto. Plants were exported to the U.S. and Europe where they were cultivated from pups and spores. In the meantime the forests near Tarapoto were cleared for lumber, and to make room for cultivation of corn, rice, tobacco, bananas and other crops.
What needs to be done.
Public education is vital. If the public does not see the value of this Zone of Ecological Protection, it will be destroyed even after it has been established. Many people including the residents of San Martin think that all epiphytes are orchids. Few know that the Crown of the Angeles is a fern. Fewer yet know that it is the largest fern in the Americas and that it is native only to their part of the world.
Practical information.
Platycerium andinum does not like full sun or great
amounts of water. It grows best on trees with rough bark, but not palms, or
it can be grown on plaques of wood. For it to become a crown it should be
placed on a verticle limb or post. It can be attached by driving a row of
nails on each side of where the plant will be, then secure the plant to the
tree with nylon monofiliment fishing leader strung from the nails back and
forth across the plant. Care must be taken not to damage the buds. Shreaded
dead leaves can be put behind the plant to keep the roots from becoming too
dry. No one knows how long it takes a large corona to devope in the forest.
I would estimate 10 to 20 years. Beautiful individual specimens can be grown
in much less time. In a garden a crown may develop faster if several plants
are attached in a row around a tree.
