Microsorum thailandicum

Natural range and habitat of Microsorum thailandicum

Microsorum thailandicum is native only to peninsular Thailand, including Chumphon Province. In the wild it grows in semi-shaded crevices on relatively dry limestone rock.

Care for Microsorum thailandicum

• Light: Give it bright filtered light.
• Temperature and humidity: Keep temperatures steady, around 18–24 °C, and avoid prolonged temperatures below 15 °C. Keep humidity high with gentle airflow.
• Water: Water thoroughly, then wait until the coarse mix has partly dried before watering again. The roots need plenty of air between waterings.
• Potting mix: Use a coarse mix of fine bark with pumice or perlite so air can move around the roots. Keep the creeping rhizome at or just above the surface.
• Feeding: Feed lightly with a dilute fern or balanced houseplant fertiliser while new fronds are unfolding.
• Repotting: Repot when the rhizome reaches the edge of its container or the mix begins to break down. A shallow pot gives the rhizome room to spread across the surface.
• Propagation: Divide an established rhizome into rooted sections with a healthy growing point or frond.

Problems with Microsorum thailandicum

• Frond edges become crisp or brown: The mix may have dried too far, the air may be very dry, or the frond may have received intense hot sun. Water thoroughly if the mix is dry, raise humidity if the room air is very dry, and move the fern into filtered light if the damage followed stronger sun.
• The rhizome becomes dark or soft: The mix is staying wet for too long or has broken down around the rhizome. Remove damaged tissue back to firm healthy tissue with a clean tool, discard the removed rotten tissue, and repot into fresh coarse mix.
• New fronds are pale and weak: Low light or a lack of nutrients during active growth may be responsible. Increase filtered light gradually and feed lightly.

Keep Microsorum thailandicum away from children and pets

• Keep this plant away from children, cats and dogs.
• Its effects after chewing or swallowing are unclear, and plant material can still cause an upset stomach.
• Contact a veterinarian or medical professional if symptoms develop or do not settle.

When was Microsorum thailandicum first published, and what does it mean?

Microsorum combines Greek mikros, small, with soros, heap, referring to the fern’s small spore clusters. Thailandicum is a Latinised geographic epithet meaning “from Thailand”.

Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link established the genus Microsorum in 1833 in Hortus Berolinensis, volume 2, page 110.

Thaweesakdi Boonkerd and Hans Peter Nooteboom first described Microsorum thailandicum in 2001 in Blumea, volume 46, page 581.