Platycerium willinckii 'Blue Queen'
Blue Queen

What the name refers to

Blue Queen is a trade name for a selection of Platycerium willinckii. It is a trade name, not a registered cultivar. Who selected it and when it was named are unknown, and we have not verified its history. PlatyWiki's willinckii entry lists it as a willinckii cultivar, and sellers in Japan, Taiwan and the United States all label it willinckii. One Japanese seller says it is a sibling of the Thai Jenny: the breeder named only two of the siblings, Jenny #1 and #2, and Blue Queen was picked from the rest. That is one seller's account and we have not verified it.

It has no connection with the wild species wandae, sold in English as the Queen staghorn, and it is not the same as another trade name, Pearl Queen.

How to recognise it

• Silver-white fertile fronds: some describe a bluish tint in the white.
• Fairly narrow fronds with fine, dense forking.
• Curling tips: accounts differ on the direction, some saying inward and some outward, so go by the plant in front of you.
• Small to medium: the original plant is not a dwarf.

Dwarf individuals turn up now and then among sporelings and are sold separately as "dwarf Blue Queen" or "dwarf select". A Taiwanese blog files ordinary Blue Queen under long-armed willinckii, which does not fit "small to medium", so plants under this one name clearly vary a good deal.

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Care

Grow it as a willinckii: bright, diffuse light, good airflow, water when the medium is dry. The silver and the curl both depend on light; with too little, fronds turn green and grow long and soft. Dwarf Blue Queen is harder; follow growing dwarf willinckii, and one Taiwanese blog recommends a temperature-controlled setup with grow lights.

Three questions before you buy

1. How was it propagated? Sporelings are the usual form in Taiwan; Japan also has pups. Sporelings vary widely; only a pup matches its mother.
2. Can you see a mature plant? The degree of curl and silver does not show at the seedling stage, so ask for photos of the mother or of mature plants from the same batch.
3. Original or a dwarf select? "Dwarf Blue Queen" is a small individual picked from sporelings, and it differs from ordinary Blue Queen in size and difficulty.