Asplenium sp. 'Cristata' / Crested Bird's Nest Fern

This plant pictured is the plant for sale. Shipped in a 4” pot. The last photos of are the mother plant, NFS

     The ‘Bird’s Nest Fern’ type Asplenium are some of my favorite foliage plants and have become a popular focus for exotic plant breeders in its native Thailand and Southeast Asia. The amount of variation in frond texture, from smooth, to ruffled, to serrated, variegated, and interrupted, is truly extraordinary. This is a sporeling of a highly crested Asplenium species with thin, dark green fronds and intense black venation. It does not get as big as the massive Asplenium nidus, but rather maintains a manageable size of 3 feet across when mature.

     The cresting will become exceedingly more pronounced as the plant matures. I have included photos of my large plants as a reference for what you can expect. It is important to mention that this plant is a sporeling, which means the leaf pattern will not be identical to the mother plant, but very similar. I have noticed a difference between my own plants.

     This plant enjoys bright, indirect light and constantly moist soil. It is an epiphyte in nature, so it is important that the media mix is airy and free draining. It prefers to be underpotted, so please leave it in a 4” pot until it becomes inconvenient to do so.