Thursday, January 10, 2008

Hydnophytum - Part 3 (aff. moseleyanum)

You may now notice a trend of featuring Hydnophytum from west to east. I am trying to show the variation of Hydnophytum species complex; some may be distinctive enough to be a species on its own while others are just too fluid and form a continuous change from formicarum to moseleyanum from Sumatra to New Guinea.
This one comes from Bogor, Java. However, i'm hesitant to say that it is from Java because it actually comes from Bogor Botanical Gardens. What's the chances of picking up dropped clump of hydnophytum seedlings during a garden stroll? This is probably the most interesting species amongst hydnophytum with great horticultural potential. The leaves are relatively small, shiny and a bit succulent. The branches are short and would form branchlets. The caudex is also very smooth, silvery green and shiny. And for the best part, the caudex grows faster compared to say H. formicarum and even H. moseleyanum. It is relatively tolerant of low humidity and burst into caudex growth when it is given generous watering. Well it definitely has more affinities to H. moseleyanum.

No comments: