Beautiful staghorn fern picture

I want to share this picture of a staghorn fern basal leaf in the sunlight.  This is a new basal leaf sprouting.  These leaves are the ones that clasp a tree or other structure to anchor the plant in the wild.  The other type of leaf the ferns have isn't shown well here, its a strap like long leave with a forked tip, hence the name.  Those leaves are the sexual parts of the plant, producing spores on the underside of the leaf.

I bought my staghorn at the Eastern Michigan State Fair Master Gardener Auction a few years ago.  It was donated to the auction by a fellow MG who has many of them in his home.  In the summer this fern sits outside under a cedar tree, indoors here in a Michigan winter I sit it on a step ladder about a foot from a south window.  

This one is in a pot, you can see how it is starting to clasp the pot in the second picture.  The pot makes it easier to move than if it was mounted on a board as many people do. It has slowly gotten bigger and heavier.  These are very long-lived plants and I have heard that in Florida some get 6 x 6 feet.  Mine just gets a little water poured on the basal leaves once in a while and a little fertilizer in the summer. They seem to thrive on benign neglect.

One is supposed to be able to divide the plant easily, there are new "pup" growths that appear on the basal fronds but I haven't tried it.  I am content to let it just increase in size although I am thinking about how to get it a larger pot.  These ferns don't need soil, the plate like basal leaves collect debris that decomposes and feeds them.  But this pot is getting a bit crowded.