Platycerium willinckii 'Foythong'
Foythong

What this name refers to

Foythong is a name used on Platycerium willinckii. It is a market name, not a registered cultivar, and its history is unverified. It turns up on sale labels in the Taiwanese community and in overseas listings, usually as P. willinckii Foythong sporeling select. We could not trace who selected or named it, and it has no established Chinese name, so we keep the original spelling.

Read the label in three parts: the species and name; sporeling, meaning raised from spores; and select, meaning the seller picked it from the batch by appearance. "Select" is not a better bloodline or an objective grade.

How to recognise it

There is no reliable way to identify it yet. Sellers stress three traits, all seller descriptions that no third party has checked:

• High shield: the upper edge of the shield fronds lifts, giving a raised, three-dimensional crown.
• Short fertile fronds: they stay short rather than hanging long, so the plant looks compact.
• Smaller plant: smaller at maturity than the species, suited to a small board.

All three shift with conditions. In low light fertile fronds stretch and go limp, and shield height changes with light and how wet the medium stays, so a seedling only hints at the adult. Sporelings segregate, so wait until the plant has moved past juvenile fronds and settled. Keeping one exact form going takes pup division or tissue culture.

Easily confused with

• Other dwarf willinckii such as Little Crown, Totoro and Golden Boy: similar selling points and hard to separate as seedlings, so go by the mother plant and the tag.
• Ordinary willinckii sporelings: every seedling is small, and you cannot tell a smaller individual until it has moved past juvenile fronds.

Care

Grow it as a willinckii; smaller individuals can follow dwarf willinckii care. Short, compact fronds need enough light. In low light these traits do not show, which does not necessarily mean you bought the wrong plant. A pot-bound seedling is close to ready for mounting: plan it around the season and avoid disturbing roots in peak heat or a cold snap. See when to mount.

Three questions before you buy

1. Which mother plant? Ask for a photo of the mother or a tag to compare with.
2. How was it propagated? Sporeling, pup or tissue culture, and which generation.
3. How far along is it? Pot size, root condition, and whether it has moved past juvenile fronds; before that you cannot see the adult form.