Microsorum pteropus 'Tropica'

Microsorum pteropus 'Tropica' is a large-leaved cultivar of Java fern, an amphibious fern species with a creeping rhizome that is widespread in tropical Asia.¹³ Its blades, up to 30 cm long and 15 cm wide, are deeply sinuate, pinnatipartite and narrowly triangular in outline, which distinguishes them from the parent form; the stalk is broadly winged.³ Like 'Windeløv', it has been cultivated since 1994; the original material of both cultivars is said to have come from Java.³ For a long time the hobby mainly knew a broad-leaved, large standard form.²

According to a 2008 study, the species belongs in a different genus, as Leptochilus pteropus; as this has not been fully resolved, the familiar name remains in use in some cases.¹ This slow-growing cultivar serves as an epiphyte on wood or stone in the midground and background; the rhizome is attached rather than planted.¹²