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LDS²

Cultivar

Platycerium willinckii 'RU18'
RU18

Latin
Platycerium willinckii 'RU18'
Chinese
RU18
Japanese
RU18
English
RU18

Parent species
Platycerium willinckiiJava staghorn fern

RU18 is one number in the "RU series" of Platycerium willinckii. According to Japanese and Taiwanese sellers, the RU series consists of individuals propagated from wild Indonesian plants and told apart by number; it is a trade code, not a registered cultivar. We found no public description of RU18 itself, so judge a plant by its own photos and its mother's; care is as for willinckii.

Care notes

What the name refers to

RU18 is one number in the "RU series" of Platycerium willinckii. It is a trade code, not a registered cultivar, and we have not verified its history. Japanese and Taiwanese sellers say the RU series was propagated from plants collected in the Indonesian mountains, with numbers to tell the individuals apart; RU01, RU6, RU14, RU27, RU60, RU77 and RU179 all turn up on the market. What "RU" stands for, and who assigns the numbers, we could not find; a Japanese auction even shows a hybrid tagged "(Ru-1)", so this is not a single, consistent numbering system.

How to recognise it

To be plain about it: we found no public description of RU18 itself, not of its fertile fronds, its shields, its hair or its habit. RU27, the best-known number in the series, is described by sellers as especially white and thick-leaved, but that is a different number and cannot be carried over to RU18.

So the only way to judge an RU18 is from photos of that plant: the length and forking of the fertile fronds, the thickness of the white coat and the overall habit should match the mother-plant photo the seller provides.

A plant its grower tags as RU18, close-up of the hanging fertile fronds: fairly green, with long narrow lobes and many forks; the grower says it has been putting out fertile fronds all yearPhoto: @_sou_23_ · View on Instagram · not an LDS photo

Care

Grow it as Platycerium willinckii: bright, diffuse light, good airflow, water thoroughly once the medium dries; it takes light and drought well. No source mentions any particular sensitivity to heat or wet for RU18.

Three questions before you buy

  1. How was it propagated? The RU series mostly circulates as divisions of the original plants or as pups, with some sporelings. Divisions and pups are the same individual as the mother; sporelings segregate.
  2. Is the mother photo the same number? RU numbers mark individuals, so the mother photo should be of RU18 itself, not another number in the series.
  3. Where does the number come from? Ask whose numbering it is and whether there is a record of origin; the same number in two sellers' hands is not necessarily the same plant.

FAQ

What does "RU" mean on a willinckii?

It is a trade code, not a cultivar name. Japanese and Taiwanese sellers say the RU series is a set of individuals propagated from wild Indonesian plants and told apart by number, such as RU01, RU27 and RU60. Nobody seems to know what RU stands for or who assigns the numbers, and some hybrids carry Ru numbers too, so judge each plant by its own photos and record of origin, not the number alone.

What does RU18 look like?

We found no public description of it. RU27 in the same series is described as especially white and thick-leaved, but that cannot be carried over to RU18. Judge from photos of the plant itself, and ask the seller for photos of the RU18 mother plant.

Other cultivars of the same species

Names selected from the same wild species, usually compared side by side.