Cultivar
Platycerium 'Unicorn'
Unicorn
- Latin
- Platycerium 'Unicorn'
- Chinese
- 獨角獸
- Japanese
- ユニコーン
- English
- Unicorn
Unicorn is a trade name for a staghorn hybrid that its breeder labels P. veitchii × P. bifurcatum. It has a dense silver-white coat with a faint bluish tint and a compact, medium habit. We have not verified its history. It is sold as tissue culture and as sporelings, which segregate; it is also a common parent in crosses, and "Unicorn × something" is not Unicorn itself.
Care notes
What the name refers to
Unicorn is a trade name for a staghorn hybrid. It is a trade name, not a registered cultivar, and we have not verified its history. The title of a Thai breeder's post labels it P. veitchii × P. bifurcatum; PlatyWiki lists it among the cultivars of veitchii; one Japanese seller writes it as a willinckii cross. PlatyWiki's list is simply a way of grouping it and does not contradict the breeder's label; the willinckii version comes from a single source and we leave it out.
How to recognise it
- A dense silver-white coat: the whole plant is covered in thick stellate hair.
- A faint bluish tint under the white: a Taiwanese seller describes "a trace of pale blue", and the breeder's post title says "special Tiffany".
- Medium-sized and compact.
- One seller says the fertile fronds are short and plump and curl upward at the tips when mature; that comes from a single source.
Growers call it "cloud-leaved" or "frosted", but we found no source for either; willinckii also has names like "Cotton Cloud" and a "cloud series", so do not read "cloud" as Unicorn.
Care
Grow it like the veitchii group: plenty of light, good airflow, a medium on the dry side and a clear wet-dry cycle. The white coat depends on light, and with too little it turns green and thin. Water the medium rather than the fronds, and keep jets of water off the leaves, since hair washed off an old frond does not grow back. For cold, treat it within the range of bifurcatum and veitchii; in a cold snap keep it out of cold wind and water less.
Tissue culture and sporelings are different things
Tissue-cultured plants are copies of one plant; sporelings are offspring of a hybrid and segregate strongly, so they may not resemble the parent. Unicorn is also a popular parent in crosses, and the many "Unicorn × something" sporelings on the market are a different set of offspring, not Unicorn itself.
Three questions before you buy
- How was it propagated? Tissue culture, sporeling, or a cross with Unicorn as one parent.
- Can you see a mature plant? The white coat and blue tint only really show at maturity.
- What does the label say? If it is written as a willinckii cross, ask what the parents are.
FAQ
What is Unicorn a cross of?
The title of the breeder's post labels it P. veitchii × P. bifurcatum, and PlatyWiki lists it among the veitchii cultivars; the two accounts do not conflict. One Japanese seller writes it as a willinckii cross, but that is a single source and we leave it out. We have not checked this history further.
Is a "Unicorn × something" sporeling a Unicorn?
No. It is the next generation from a cross with Unicorn as one parent, and it segregates: it may lean toward either parent, or show little of either. If you want Unicorn itself, choose tissue culture and ask the seller for photos of the mother plant.
Other cultivars of the same species
Names selected from the same wild species, usually compared side by side.