plants for life

Kalanchoe bracteata

2009-05-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

Another interesting species of Kalanchoe from Madagascar yet again. This is a species that closely resembles K. orygalis. K. orygalis has leaves covered by a layer of deep bronze hair or scales whereas K. bracteata has silvery white hair or scales instead. This is typical K. bracteata and it also has a naked cousin totally emerald green with out hairs or scales. This species is very drought, heat resistant and easy to propagate from leaves. It is a beautiful succulent, and will need to be re-started leaves or re-planted from cuttings otherwise it grows leggy when the older leaves shred. Another species that's very similar but more sparsely hairly is K. hildebrantii.

Stapelianthus keraudreniae

2009-05-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

Another species of Stapelianthus from Betioky district in south western Madagascar. This species is different from other Stapelianthus due to the raise annulus resembling some species of Huernia like H. zebrina. Also, the annulus appears to be viscid or sticky in the absence of dew. During watering, I took care to avoid wetting the flowers. However, it is only strong enough to trap dirt as i did not see any dead ants or other insect stuck on it. The flowers of Stapelianthus are quite diverse, tubular in S. decaryii , raise annulus in S. keraudreniae, recurved in S. insignis and open standard in S. hardyi, S. madagascariensis etc; more so than other genera of Stapeliaceae (Huernia, Stapelia). I hope to find others like S. calcarophilus, S. madagascarensis. Being a sub-tropical stapeliad, it adapts well under tropical conditions.

Stapelianthus pilosus

2009-05-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

This is an immediately distinctive plant amongst the stapeliads - stem densely covered with white hairs. For those more familiar with huernia, it is like Huernia pillansii with denser and softer hairs. Originated from Madagascar, it has been in cultivation for a fair period of time. But it is not as commonly available as other S. African huernias. It requires more warmth and a bit higher humidity. It has a creeping habit due to its long soft stems. Also because of longer stems and less offsetting habit, it is harder to take cuttings for propagation. Hopefully, i can keep and propagate it well under tropical conditions.

Orthophytum gurkenii

2009-05-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Normally, i'm not a big fan of bromeliads with a soft spot for compact rosettes or silvery scales. Just not able to resist purchasing this plant for 23US$. I've been eyeing it for a while. The plant looked a bit tired then but recovered. This species is native to Brazil from mesic habitat, so i'm giving it a bright corner and light watering. While it is not commonly offered here in the old world, it is not an uncommon houseplant offered in the states. The leaves are covered with a mosaic network of white trichomes. Need to take extra care during handling to avoid touching the leaves and cause irrecoverable blemish. And also to keep a keen eye for scales or mealies!

Kalanchoe grandidieri

2009-04-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

This is one of the arborescent kalanchoe from the scrub desert of south western Madagascar. So far, it has been occasionally offered for sale by specialist C&S nurseries in Europe and US. It would quickly sold out and disappear from the catalogue the following year. I find this plant very slow growing and difficult to propagate. The leaf refuses to detached cleanly from the stem, even with great care. It is not easy to root the damage leaf. These are i guess the reasons why it remains rare in cultivation. With leaves up to 5" long, it resembles non-branching a scale-up version of the commonly sold jade plant Crassula ovata. It is amenable to tropical lowland climate and i had kept it for more than 5 years.

Plectranthus sp

2009-04-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

Plectranthus is one genus that is not well presented in C&S collection. The best known species is P. ernestii a caudiciform from coast Natal province of South Africa. Other species in this genus can hardly be termed succulent in the classical sense, but many species are certainly well adapted to take xeric conditions.

This species 10249 collected by Lavranos & Horwood from Galgallo, Somalia fits the bill of great adaptability between two extremes of dry and wet. My plant above is "tortured" by underwatering because i enjoy its soft and flaccid look. A cutting given to a friend who has it grown under a sprinkler once a day becomes a monster overnight. It has outgrown its parental clone by 4 times in both width and height, carring its leaves erect and extended. In short, it has transformed into garden coleus!

Echidnopsis bihendulensis

2009-04-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

This is a very robust and easy stapeliad for the equatorial conditions. It does not melt with days with night temperatures above 30°C. Not surprising as it is from Somalia. Purchased it from Ernest Specks as ES14143 2 years back. It is very free flowering, need little attention and propagates easily too.

Other than American invasion of Somalia, Somali pirates threatening shipping in Red Sea area and other bad press... Somalia is actually a place very rich and diverse in succulents and xeric vegetation. Ecologically dry for eons, it is an isolated succulent desert sharing common flora with Northern Africa and Canary Islands and across to the Arabian Peninsular. Other well known stapeliads - Pseudolithos, Pseudopectinaria, Whitesloanea, Edithcolea also comes that area.

Nowadays, i try as much as possible grow succulents from equatorial africa where few succulents are to be found and the lowlands of sub-tropical africa mainly Somalia, Madasgacar. Other parts of 'tropical' africa is not really true, because they are way up above sea level most of East Africa is highland and plains above 1000 m.

Aeonium goochiae

2009-04-05T06:25:00.001-07:00

Again like the former plant... that came through post in a bad way, this came with the rosette totally flatten to 1 plane. I was expecting all the leaves to blacken and fall off after planting. Surprise, surprise. It survives and it actually growing. Its restricted range between 100-700m at La Palma, Canary Islands may explain its heat tolerance.

Aeonium haworthii

2009-04-01T06:03:00.000-07:00

It is probably not the most common Aeonium around. Have been trying to find adaptable crassulaceae species for the tropics. A kind gentlemen has picked a selection of crassulaceae from the lower altitude of Canary Islands. This is one of the surviving crassulaceae from Canary Islands. Actually, the survival rate is better than my expectation. A small padded packet came to me from England in the depth of February winter. It reached me semi-flatten as if a steam roller just went over it. As i was unpacking, there was also a sticky resinous small which i assumed was the scent of death (rot). These little things still managed to pull through to a permanently above 27°C ever warm environment. In the picture is a plant rooted from a broken off rosette with less that 1 mm of stem. So far it survived the postal journey, the decapitation, my 1 week holiday to Taiwan and the rising humidity and heat of April. So i'm keeping my fingers crossed..

Euphorbia lophogona

2009-03-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

Another of my old plants in need of finding another clone. This plant was from Tarrington Exotics (Rudolf Schultz), Australia before his retirement. For some strange reason Euphorbia lophogona is rarely ever offered nowadays. In the early 1990s and 2000s, it was frequently offered in C&S catalogues. Like fashion, what is popular will soon be passe. So remember to hang on to old fashion plants like blue chips and be ready to cash in one day. Last week when i was in Southern Taiwan, i managed to get a seedling of E. lophogona from a hobbyist poysean hybridizer. Most of the large cyathophylls "poysean" has E. lophogona in its very mixed genes.

Caralluma moniliformis

2009-03-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

This is one of the Somalian carallumas that Ernest Specks had stocked in his 2008 catalogue. I was pleasantly surprised that it flowered earlier in February during the dry and windy weather. Most of my carallumas (C. retrospeciens) give a terminal ball of flowers, and i was expecting the same for this species. It gives a long thin stick of spaced terminal inflorescence similar to a well known Indian species C. stalagmifera. The flowers are really very small, perhaps 1 cm across and extremely delicate. Any insects that can work on its pollination is probably an order of magnitude smaller! For size, i have a stray kalanchoe longiflora (right) for comparison below:

Dorstenia horwoodii

2009-03-12T05:08:00.000-07:00

Another one of the oldies in my collection. Had it probably almost close to 10 years. I got it as Dorstenia horwoodii from AridLand East before Mike Massara went on to set up his own Out of Africa Plants nursery. Many "summers" and "winters" pass with a new flush of silvery green leaves turning to autumnal golden before they shed. The plant is monoecious; the stigma and stamens offset but a short period to avoid selfing. Interestingly when the plant was younger, there numerous seed set were none viable. For the last few years, they become viable with many true to parent-form seedlings despite having only 1 specimen or clone.

This species was collect by Frank Horwood in Somalia and hence the species name. There are opinions now that it should be considered to one variation of the D. foetida species complex. As a gardener and hobbyist, it is probably easier to remember a short name vs D. foetida (syn D. horwoodii.. ). Under tropical conditions subjected to similar cultivation treatment D. foetida grows as an annual or bi-annual while D. horwoodii remains strongly perennial.

Deutorocohnia brevifolia v brevifolia

2009-03-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

Failure to notice your relatively "new" plants in flower is not a good sign. Possibly even symptomic of having too many plants and almost sign of negligence. A regular visitor to my collection spotted this xeric bromeliad in flower. Lime green is an unusual flower colour. I'm not completely sure if it is D. brevifolia v. brevifolia. I received it as that. It differs from its twin D. brevifolia v. chlorantha being bigger. Than again, what i also received a D. lorentziana. It is could be case of mixing up the labels. D. lorentziana is a much bigger plant with close rosette 5-10 cm in diamater while D. brevifolia v. brevifolia is smaller with open rosette 5 cm across. Cultivation of this species is easy; grow in rocky open mix and full sun.

Huernia hystrix

2009-02-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

If my memory serve me well, this is one of the few succulents that i have from day 1. It is a plant have been around in Singapore for a very long time and yet rarely offered in nurseries. Over the years, i have collected a couple of varieties, mainly Huernia hystrix v. hystrix but i like my original clone H. hystrix v. parvula best. Variety parvula is smaller compared to the type species in all its parts. And under my regime, it is also more free flowering compared to the various hystrix. For scale, the flower above is 3 cm across with similarly sized trailing stems. The type variety is widely distributed from south eastern Zimbabwee, through Mozambique to Transvaal, Swaziland and Natal provinces in South Africa, while parvula variety is restricted to few localities in Oribi Flats, Natal. It is one of the most resilient huernia in my collection, surviving neglect, under attrack by spider mites and weevils for longest period. They looked well enough that i overlooked those damned pests.

More Nervilias

2009-02-25T19:34:00.000-08:00

If you like to grow orchids that do not look anything like an orchid, try growing a selection of nervilias. They come in various sizes, shades, color, texture. They are small and fit very well into 3.5 to 4" pots. When they are resting, you can put stack them up under the bench or in the cellar.

At this point, i'm betting on the smallest being Nervilia crociformis based on its eastern origins. However, think N. punctata is also a very strong contender based on the leaf.

Nervilia plicata

2009-02-21T06:52:00.000-08:00

This is probably one of the more common Nervilia in cultivation. It took me some time to figure out how to grow these terrestial orchids:

1. Pot in a light well draining and aerated mix. Light loam with some peat/humus and perlite/pumice is fine.

2. Water generously during the growing phase when new leaves appear. Stolons and runners will also be produced. Small new white tubers start to form underground.

3. Reduce watering when the leaves start to brown or die back. The underground tubers harden. Interconnecting stolons dry up.

4. Water once a week during dormancy. The mix should be marginally moist. How much moisture can a 1-2 cm diameter tuber holds over 8-12 weeks?

5. With good care, you should be able to double or triple the corms each year.

The leaves are quite variable. The photo above and below are those of the same clone growth in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

It is a very widespread species with a range from Deccan, India all the way east to New Guinea and extends north to southwestern China and south to northern Australia. The recorded localities are concentrated in the tropical monsoon belt. So far, i have not come across it in habitat. It surely blends in with leaf litter in deciduous forest.

Nervilia aragoana

2009-02-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

Appears to be another form of N. aragoana. This comes from Taminbar Island towards the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. The leaves are very close to Thai N. aragoana. With care and a bit of luck, would expect it to flower in the next growing season.

Below is a lush pot of a malaysian form 3 months after I wrote an entry. Check it out. (http://tulear.blogspot.com/2008/11/nervilia-aragoana.html)

Euphorbia iharanae

2009-02-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

Another one having Euphorbia viguieri characteristics - rosette of large leaves on a fatten club like stem, cyathophylls are erect and cover the cyathias completely. It is not in my trusty Succulent and Xerophytic plants of Madagascar, Werner Rauh (1995). The same author published it in Kakteen Sukk. 46(9): 221-223 (1995), probably too late to include it in his Madagascar Tomes. From entry on IUCN 2008 Red List, the description notes that it is found near Cap-Manambato (Iharana district) as a coastal cliff dweller. It is also not far from the locality of E. capmanombatoensis. I can see similarities here. The marble markings and soft hairs on the leaves stand out.

Euphorbia viguieri

2009-02-07T06:31:00.000-08:00

I have this plant for a very long time. It is one of the first few succulent in my collection. It has survived well under neglect, a bit of overwatering and underpotted for the last couple of years. The photo above is that of a young plant that has lodged itself in another pot of succulent and in time taken over. My parent clone is apparently self-fertile and it seeds readily. The seed yield is exceptionally good and the seedlings are strong and vigorous. I see them appearing even in my lawn. The club-like single stem is more pronounced up to about 30 cm. Beyong that height, visually you would call it as having a thicken stem. For me, it is not totally deciduous and will retain its leaves given sufficient water.

E. viguieri is native to northwestern Madagascar from the northern most point of Windsor Castle down to Morondava on wide ranging soils: granitic, limestone and sand. That probably explains its adaptable disposition.

Carallum crenulata

2009-01-31T08:44:00.000-08:00

Have been awaiting buds to open for sometime. There were numerous abortions in the last few months. Perhaps it is too windy or too warm. At last on the 6th day of Chinese New Year, the flowers open:
My guess is Caralluma crenulata. It turns out to be correct. The stems are 4-angled and rather thin just 5-6 mm with small residual leaves. Unlike other stapeliads, it has a rather irregular habitat branching at will like a straggly Edithcolea grandis. So far it does not appear to form underground stolons/stems, noting the lack of new stem growth emerging from underground. A friend gave me a small plant that was purchased from the renown Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, Thailand. C. crenulata type is recorded from Sagaing in the dry savannah interior of Myanmar. I reckon it would be highly probable that some plant finds its way to the neighbouring Thailand which has a very developed horticultural industry.

Tree Fern

2009-01-24T10:12:00.000-08:00

Am always enchanted by ferns for their primitive and mathematical symmetry. The perfect crown of fronds of this Cyathea contaminans justly epitomized symmetry. This is the giant tree fern of the Malayan montane forest. It rises high above shrublets to more than 10 m tall and sways with racing mists. It colonizes base of slopes next to roads, old clearings and valleys. Photo was taken at start of the trek/road leading to Gunong Brinchang in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia around May day holidays in 2007.

Hechtia tillandsioides

2009-01-17T17:41:00.000-08:00

Recent issues of Cactus & Succulent Society of America Journal have been featuring articles on xeric bromeliads. They form neat ground hugging perfect rosettes in brown/greyish landscapes. Growing in dry savanna woodlands with cacti. Color changes in leaves at the center of the rosette signal flowering. I've been toying with the idea of buying a couple of miniature xeric bromeliads. And went to the extend of compiling a list: Hechtia tillandsioides, Dyckia choristamine, D. fosteriana. I was hoping to find a nursery that stocked my wishlist but that was not the case. It did not pay to bring in a single plant due to high shipping and phyto certification charges.

Back in November the day before i went off on vacation, i decided to visit a local nursery. I was surprised they had were carrying stock of tillandsia and other bromeliads including a couple of xeric bromeliads. Two H. tillandsioides were up for grabs and i got them. H. tillandsioides is a native of Veracruz, Mexico. It resembles a tillandsia and has a very compact flattened rosette (20-25 cm across) of lime-green leaves. The leaves are very long (30 cm or more) and thin with spines on the margin. So far it is growing well in a balmy corner partial sheltered from rain.

Kalanchoe brachyloba

2009-01-10T05:17:00.000-08:00

Have been trying to nail down the identity of this member of crassulaceae for a while. My best guess is kalanchoe brachyloba; a species widespread across central and southern Africa. The subrosulate arrangement of very fleshy succulent leaves and having a tuberous rootsock matches the description well. This was purchased from the famous Chatuchak market in Bangkok back in 2006. It was one of the cheaper miscellaneous offering in small pots where one normally associate with easy to propagate and common stuff. Frankly, it is definitely an easy non-demanding plant that thrive on neglect but it is not fast growing. Under ever warm tropical condition without significant change in summer/winter day lenght, i am not counting on it to flower and confirm its identity.

Tillandsia kegeliana

2009-01-03T08:25:00.000-08:00

This is my first 2009 posting. I have been pondering what to feature although i have many plant photos saved in my harddisk. 2 plants were purchased from Denis of Tropiflora during the inaugural Singapore Garden Festival Show in 2006. Tropiflora cargo report Vol 13 No 3. 2003 had this description "T. kegeliana. This is the rare deep-red clone from the hinterlands of the Darien in Pananma. A rather small plant, growing to about 6" across in a somewhat bulbous, greenish-grey red tinted open rosette. The inflorescence is a short, inflated, arrowhead-shaped scape of deep red with red flowers. Mature plants, US$7.50 (S$12.9). #480". Each plant was priced at S$12 (US$7.8) similar to 2003, but nominally cheaper on a inflation adjusted basis. In Lyman Smith's Monograph on Tillansioideae in Flora Neotropica, Panama, Darien was recorded as a locality ofT. kegeliana in 1914. The distribution of this species stretches from Panama to northeastern Brazil. The type Kegel 881 is from Suriname and so i guess it is named after Kegel.

Somehow, i find the name Kegel familiar and yes.. There's a Dr Arnold H. Kegel (1894 - 1981) who was a gynecologist that invented Kegel Perineometer (used from measuring vaginal air pressure) and Kegel exercises (squeezing of the muscles of the pelvic floor). I wonder if the same Dr. Kegel collect specimen 881!

While i had 2 plants, one rotted and collapsed within days of owning it. I suspected it travelled with water in the rosette. Wet Tillandsias travel very very poorly. The other plant grows exceptionally well and pupped into 2 here.

Adiantum reniforme

2008-12-27T21:27:00.000-08:00

The species name reniforme suggests a kidney in outline. This is a very unusual Adiantum. It is found at 3 very separated locations. In Canary Islands, around the Three Gorges area in China and parts of Africa, Kenya, Tanzania to the islands off Africa like Madagascar and Reunion islands. This points to an ancient lineage now widely separated deal to unsuitable habitat or effects of geological past. Canary Islands flora evolved from extension of East African flora separated by the Sahara desert. Its very isolated existence in China is particularly interesting. Surely, there must be a few suitable habitat between China and Africa that's comfortable enough for a fern during ice age.

From a hobbyist perspective, it is a very small and compact growing fern. The scaly, crispy or perhaps more aptly brittle texture of mature frond is distinctive. The fronds rattle like a windchime of thin seashells on a string. Its texture reminds me of Equisetum. Its internals filled with silica. I purchased this fern from a rooftop nursery at Ikebukuro Shopping Mall in August this year. Cost me 2000Yen! Fortunately, it manages to grow well under tropical conditions.

Deutorocohnia brevifolia

2008-12-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

This miniature deserves to be more popular. I often wonder why it is not part of cactus and succulent offering afterall some of the assortment offered can be rather slow growing plants. This dry growing bromeliad originates from Argentina and Bolivia. It has been in cultivation for a long time, in particular in dry gardens of mediterranean climate. I have seen it grown outdoors at Huntington BG in California. Hermann Jacobsen has it in his classic Lexicon of Succulent plants (a wonderful grandfather of succulent books for the hobbyist). It detests wet or compacted mix and does best in a gritty and free draining media. While each rosette is only around 1", it eventually offsets and forms a mould given good strong light, time and space. Be sure not to accidentally brush against or fall in the pot, the needle sharp pointed leaves can really draw blood.

Impatiens cinnabarina

2008-12-17T20:00:00.000-08:00

This small and delicate impatiens comes from Kimboza area, Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania. Its habitat is limestone outcrops at low altitudes. The tuber forming root system is probably an adaptation to survive occasional dry spells. This young plant of about 5-6 mths old just flowered for the first time. There is a very distinctive blotch at the base of the lower united petals. Unhappily, the flower last a short 1 day... maybe 2 days. The picture was taken before i left for work and by evening the flower was on the floor. The broad slivery-green leaves are attractive too. I. walleriana is more rewarding as a flowering bedding plant... but if you want miniature and delicate beauty would recommend I. cinnabarina. It is one of the very very few smaller impatiens that can survive occasional drought.

Habenaria lindleyana

2008-12-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

I wrote about this beautiful Habenaria lindleyana 1 year back. (http://tulear.blogspot.com/2007/11/perfect-flower-before-i-left-for-2-week.html). The parent plant featured went into dormancy in december 2007 forming 3 tubers. 1 big and 2 small tubers. This second generation tubers have once again grown very nicely over 2008 and reward me with a beautiful crop of flowers! Due to accidental neglect during a hot spell and an attack of spider mites, the bigger plant as aborted flowered and has since went into dormancy forming a new single tuber. Hopefully, i would be able to increase the number of new tubers and hence new plants for 2009.

Nervilia aragoana

2008-11-16T19:24:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most wide-ranging orchid in the world... recorded from Deccan, India all the way across subtropical Asia to Ryukyu Island, Japan in the North and Pacific Islands of Guam, Fiji, Niue to the South and even further east to Samoa.

My beautiful N. aragoana originates from peninsular Malaysia, which is in between the 2 extremes of India and Pacific Islands. It is like a miniature Gunnera or Petasites from cool temperate zone contained in a 4" pot. During the growing season a new leaf grow from a underground globular tuber; as the leaf mature and "harden", new-stolon like root runners grow from the base of the leaf stalk into loose humus rich soil to form new tubers. It is an easy terrestial orchid that require generous watering and humidity during the vegetative growing season and a bit of a dry-out between watering during the dormant stage. Depending on origins and habitat and general health of the orchid, the leaf can range from 2" to 7" across. The flowers are nothing much to talk about. Since i've only a single clone.. it seems to have an ability to self pollinate for the last few terminal flowers to propagate ifself when cross fertilization mechanism is not available.

An unfolding young leaf:

Pyrrosia lingua

2008-11-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

This fern is notionally tagged Pyrrosia lingua. Despite my efforts of digging into some fern literature and combing through images on the net.. i can just say it is probably a miniature form of P. lingua. It is a beautiful xeric/resurrection fern. When it is water-stressed, the fronds curl-up exposing the copper/silver underside (top). Give it a good drenching, it revives very quickly (bottom).

The new fronds appear to be covered with whitish trichomes, showing special adaption to get atmospheric humidity.

This beautiful fern was given to me and it is said to have originated from China. It is remarkably adaptable and heat tolerant; having survived 37 C tropical heat and drought without tissue damage:

Sedum booleanum

2008-11-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

When i first saw this plant at the rooftop C&S nursery/shop at Seibu Ikebukuro, Tokyo, i told myself it must be a crassula sp. With a compact crassula-like plant, the odds of it surviving tropical Singapore is very low. The general rule of thumb - anything white, tight and compact is doomed from the start. Still it is too charming and must be tried and tested. Well, it turned out to be a sedum from subtropical Mexico which is a good start versus crassula sp from temperate S. Africa. The Japanese harakana script had it phonetically translated as S. "boulesnum" which is very close to the published latin name of S. booleanum. This species is described from Nuevo Leon, Mexico and it occurs in gypsum outcrops. It is unique and special being very similar to habit of Villadia. (Go to this wonderful website and search for S. booleanum in the botanical database).

After growing for 3 mths, it has retained its compact form and colour; something to cheer about for a sedum occuring at 1340 m a.s.l!

Glottiphyllum depressum

2008-10-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

It is a surprise to me that this tongue-mesemb can grow and flower in Singapore. My first encounter was in a Taiwan nursery that had them grown in a flat in a gravelly mix. It was growing in full sun and also expose to monsoon rains. But apparently enjoying the conditions with numerous flowers. The second encounter was at Shanghai botanical gardens the following year.

G. depressum as species name suggests lies flat or prostate. The soft heavy leaves can be easily damaged or bruised, making them unsightly. In term of size, this is a giant relative to lithops. The leaves are about 3" long, flowers 1.2" across. All parts are bigger, the seed pods and even the seeds are bigger. I even managed to germinate few old seeds traps in a rotting seed capsule and nurse a seedling to about 2 cm with secondary leaves.

Will probably try to test grow different species from genus here next year. There are afterall a few species stretching from Little Karoo east into the summer rainfall area of Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Aloe hemmingii

2008-10-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well, i consider this one of the most beautiful Aloe. It is a miniature, comfortably growing in a 3.5" pot. Like most good things in life, it is a relatively slow grower and does not give offsets or "pups" readily. This species is native to Somalia, around the hilly terrain around Hargeisa, at Horn of Africa. It closely resembles A. jucunda, a species that is more frequently offered probably because it grows faster and offsets easily. Unlike A. jucunda which gets sunburn or melt down on exposure to strong direct sun, A. hemmingii looks best and bronzes ifself in full sun.

Cultivation is relatively easy. Very well draining mix and general neglect!

Bergeranthus multiceps

2008-10-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

Permanently warm temperatures above 25°C is almost certain death for keeping mesembs. Surprise, surprise, one compact mat forming mesemb, purchased from the famous Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, Thailand, just flowered for me. I've seen the bud for a couple of days and am ready to shoot under gentle morning light. But the flower remains close and a few petals extending out not unlike a clam that has trapped a few petals! When i returned from work one early evening around 5 pm the flower is opened. The timing is unusual as most mesemb open their flowers in the morning. There are numerous yellow flowering mesembs in a family with 135 genera and about 1900 species.. it would be impossible to land on a identification.

Well, there are 2 important clues:

(1) it must come from the lowlands, summer rainfall area; being successful here on the equator

(2) flower opens in the evening

Refering to my handy copy of Mesembs of the World by Gideon Smith, Briza Publisher (1998). Bergeranthus flowers only in late afternoon and close before midnight and is restricted exclusively to the eastern cape near the coast between Port Elizabeth in the west and up to East London and Queenstown. Doing some websearch, the leaf shape and plant habit best matches B. multiceps.

Testing out new Echeverias & allies

2008-10-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

This is a tray of newly potted cuttings of Echeveria, Graptopetalum, Pachyphytum, Sedum, xCremnopetalum, xGraptoveria,, xSedeveria sp I have always like rosetted species from the crassulaceae family. Have been doing some research and compile a list of desirable low altitude species between subtropical belt ie. between the tropic of cancer and capricorn. I come up with a list of mainly Mexican species which deserved to be tested here under tropical conditions. I challenge a sharp-eye expert to spot 2 pots of non-crassulaceae!

Hoya endauensis

2008-10-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hoya species has been climbing about on my wall together with some of my native miniature orchids. The leaves are small and long shoots or vines are also more contained. This clone has entirely smooth leaf margin versus wavy leaf margins in clones available in US and European collection. It retains the same characteristics under different growers. The compactness and smallness is the main reason that i kept it. I have given cuttings to a couple of friends and also send long climbing shoots to the bin but it has never flowered over 3 or 4 years. When it did 2 weeks ago, it lasted less than 2 days. The umbel naturally faces the ground. I had to "right" it up to avoid using the bright sky as backdrop. Each flower is just 8 mm across.. small.

There is some debate as to it's origins; i recollected it was picked up on a fallen/rotting twig on a road up to a radio/tv broadcasting station between Kahang-Jemaluang road in Johor, Malaysia while my friend insisted it was picked up in the Panti area. Well, it probably does not matter, the 2 localities are just 80 km or so apart in Johor State sharing a common lowland rainforest habitat.

Pyrrosia hastata

2008-10-01T06:06:00.001-07:00

Am normally not into ferns. Perhaps being snobbish, they are like easy common houseplants that thrive under a regime of lavish watering. Being a succulent enthusiast there are few places for moisture loving ferns. Actually there are many drought tolerant or xeric ferns. Their survival strategy is different from succulents; succulent stores water while xeric ferns curls and dries up and resurrects when water is available. Nowadays, i've been slowly adding on xeric ferns to my xeric theme collection.

This fern was acquired recently during a trip to Japan. My Japanese friend was keeping this fern in full sun on his rooftop. Japanese summer can be terribly hot and humid. I was literally melting on his rooftop and thermometer registered 37°C. This fern Pyrrosia hastata was clearly adaptable, the leaves curled backwards exposing a beautiful rusty brown patch of spore bearing bodies (above photo, view of the underside). The potting media was almost bone dry. I thought it would make a good companion plant together with succulents.

This is a photograph of a well watered specimen from the top.
This species come from Southern China and extend to Southern Korea and Japan. It grows on exposed rocky places. This explains its tolerance to both extreme summer and winter temperatures. Eastern Asia experienced wet summers and dry winters. And hence it is a summer grower. So far, it has given me many new fronds. It has also went through a couple of missed watering as it was placed at less frequent corner. These unintentional drought regime would have killed most ferns.

xGraptosedum 'Francesco Baldi'

2008-09-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

This is amongst the 'survivors'. With suggestions from crassulaceae discussion group, i think it is probably xGraptosedum 'Francesco Baldi'. This is a cross between Graptopetalum paraguayense and Sedum pachyphyllum. It is unlikely that i can ever get confirmation from its flowers; the heat tolerant parent G. paraguayense never flowers here in Singapore. The leaf shape and taller growth comes from S. pachyphyllum. G. paraguayense contributes to the broader leaves and pinkish coloration. This is widely offered for sale without label and occasionally can be labelled 'Pink Beauty'.

xGraptosedum 'Bronze'

2008-09-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

This brightly colorful and beautiful succulent was purchased from Home Depot, Fairfax, VA. It was amongst a nice range of cacti and succulents supplied by Altman Plants. After 7 months of acclimatizing in Singapore, 1 out of 4 of my selection perished. This is one of the survivors. I had no idea what it is. My initial guesses are Sedum, xGraptoveria and xPachyveria. Fortunately, there are many amateur experts in the succulent hobbyist discussion groups where i can approach to get identification help. In this case, i posted photographs to this the crassulaceae discussion at yahoogroups. General consensus has it identified as xGraptosedum 'Bronze' which is an intergeneric cross of Graptopetalum paraguayense and Sedum stahlii. G. paraguayense from lowland Veracruz, Mexico passes on heat tolerance genetics while S. stahlii deepens or darkens the coloration.

Kalanchoe longiflora

2008-09-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

This very heat and wet tolerant species comes from KwaZulu-Natal area of South Africa. The new leaves are strongly covered with thick white bloom which "crack" like fine china. I had this species for many years and it has not flowered once. Till this day i don't know provenance of this species in Singapore. Have nevered seen it amongst dutch or local (Cameroun Highlands) cactus & succulents imports. I took a cutting on a planter outside someone's house next to the road. It was rambling on the surface rocky soil of a very root bounded planter. Those are the days without internet and online catalogue. Your plant sources are nearer home... hoping that your regular neighbourhood nursery bring in some interesting stuff. It would have been whiter have i kept it under full shelter, as it has proven to be wet hardy... i had to give the premium shelter space to other more sensitive succulents. Here's a the view from the top:

Huernia kennedyana

2008-09-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Was very pleasantly surprised this morning when i saw my small Huernia kennedyana in flower. I had to photograph it before before the rain clouds blocked out the nice morning sun! Didn't even got a chance to preview my snaps as i had to rush to work. This is a very distinctive Huernia. The stems are very short and almost globular. For scale, the plant is in a 2" pot. It will surely take a while before it matt-over the square pot. First described by John Lavranos and is found around Cradock area, East Cape, South Africa.

Plectranthus socotranus

2008-08-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

The only member of Plectranthus that i knew until recently is P. amboinicus (Indian Mint, French Thyme, Soup Mint etc). This is a genus in which many species have aromatic or pungent leaves. P. socotranus is not an exception. It has very strong scented leaves and it smells like "Vicks". You don't have to bruise or crush the leaves to release the smell. A mere touch or brush against the roundish felted succulent leaves will release the scent. The scent smells like a mixture of camphor, eucalyptus and menthol and it will stay on your fingers.

The species epithlet suggests it comes from the island of Socotra off the Arabian Peninsular. The write-up from New or noteworthy species from Socotra and Abd al Kuri (Part of the Hooker's Icones Plantarum) recorded that it is found on the limestone plateau above 460m, being fairly abundant and in open patch amongst Croton thickets. Despite its hill habitat, it takes kindly to our warm lowland conditions and some exposure to tropical rain.

Kalanchoe somaliensis

2008-08-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

There are many more species of kalanchoe that are more amendable or more correctly adaptable to continuously hot and humid tropical environment. K. somaliensis is one of them. Recent literature has placed it under one of the numerous synomyns of K. marmorata; in flower it may be a K. marmorata, so far it has not flowered. From the heat tolerance point of view, this is definitely not a typical K. marmorata. I had given at least 2 tries to K. marmorata from 2 different sources hoping to get a warm tolerant clone. They quickly succumbed to the weather and rightly so coming from 1200-1400 m montane zone of East Africa. K. somaliensis does have some semblance to K. marmorata; imagine the later without purple marbled markings and more pruinose. It probably comes from a warm area and dry habitat. The leaves develop even more intense white-blue pruinose under full sun as protection against sunburn. This clone comes to me from France.

Kalanchoe synsepala

2008-08-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

This is one of the more unusual Kalanchoe being the only species that produces stolon like strawberry. It is widely distributed in central plateau of Madagascar. We do have a regular K. synsepala clone that has been grown here in Singapore for a long time. It is a vigorous plant but without the cool and change in the daylight hours of changing seasons, it does not flower. Interestingly, this particular clone from the lowlands of southern Madagascar is more amendable to hot tropical conditions and it rewards me with an inflorescence. The plant is redder and the leaf lamina is covered with fine felt whereas typical species has smooth leaf. I thought the flowers would have expired when i went away for 2 weeks, but it turned out to be very lasting.

Orostachys japonica

2008-07-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Sempervivum? No, Sempervivum is not found beyond Asia minor and the Caucasus. Other genera of crassulaceae from Japan are Orostachys, Sedum i think this is an Orostachys. This compact rosetted succulent was found growing on rocks near the sea at Utoro, Hokkaido, Japan. Orostachys are biennials - they die after flowering in the 2nd year. The intense red and extreme clustering of leaves in the top photo is an indicative sign of emerging stem inflorescence in autumn. There are few accompanying plants in the harsh rocky habitat besides Phedimus kamtschaticus (Sedum aizoon ssp kamtschaticum), Artemisia sp and some annual members of the compositae. I can imagine the succulent rosette of leaves buried under at less a foot of snow! Based on internet photos and description from Flora of China, i think it is O. japonica. It is a widespread species from Eastern China extending to Japan, Korea and Russia.

Phedimus kamtschaticus

2008-07-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken in-situ when i went on a 2 weeks vacation (. No, i did not travel to an exotic place called Kamchatka in the far eastern Russia. It was taken at Utoro near Shiretoko national park at Hokkaido, Japan. Frankly, i never heard of this small town. It serves as a getway to the Shiretoko national park and cruiseliners take tourists out to tip of Shiretoko peninsula (Cape Shiretoko) from this point. It is growing on coastal rocks around cruiseliner pier in full sun. I lift this description from Flora of China 8: 218–221. 2001.

Phedimus kamtschaticus (Fischer) ’t Hart in ’t Hart & Eggli,
Evol. & Syst. Crassulac. 168. 1995.
堪察加费菜 kan cha jia fei cai
Sedum kamtschaticum Fischer & C. A. Meyer, Index Sem. Hort. Petrop. 7: 54. 1840;
Aizopsis kamtschatica (Fischer) Grulich; Sedum aizoon Linnaeus subsp. kamtschaticum (Fischer) Fröderström.
Herbs perennial. Rootstock branched, thickened, woody. Stems mostly simple, ascending, 15–40 cm, sometimes papillate. Leaves alternate or opposite, rarely 3-verticillate; leaf blade oblanceolate, spatulate, or obovate, 2.5–7 × 0.5–3 cm, base narrowly cuneate, margin apically
sparsely serrate to crenate, apex obtuse-rounded. Inflorescence terminal. Flowers unequally 5-merous. Sepals lanceolate, 3–4 mm, base broad, apex obtuse. Petals yellow, lanceolate, 6–8 mm, abaxially keeled, apex acuminate and mucronate. Stamens 10, slightly shorter than petals; anthers orange. Nectar scales subquadrangular, minute. Carpels erect, equaling or slightly shorter than petals, adaxially gibbous, base connate for ca. 2 mm. Follicles stellately
horizontal. Seeds brown, obovoid, minute. Fl. Jun–Jul, fr. Aug–Sep.
Rocky slopes; 600–1800 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol [Japan,
Korea, Russia].

It is so neat and nicely position that on first impression i thought it was planted. Anyway, there are annuals in planted troughs. More of this species growing on other less accessible rocks around that area. They survived winter dying down to a rootstock. I reckon the place will be snow covered for at least 4-5 mths.

Pure Beauty - Habenaria myriotricha/medusae

2008-07-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

This is a jaw-dropping beauty from Laos or Thailand. I've seen it once in Bangkok and that beautiful memory stayed with me. Recently, i was very lucky to purchase what i suspected is a H. myriotricha plant from a local orchid nursery. They had imported some plants from Thailand in preparation for a plant exhibition cum trade fair. Keeping my fingers crossed... and it turned out to the plant of my dreams.

According to Seidenfaden, there are 3 species - H. medusae from northern Sumatra, H. myriotricha from Thailand/Laos & H. beccarii from Sulawesi. H. medusae and H. myriotricha are almost identical while H. beccarii has broader and shorter fringes on the side lobes. Knowing that my plant originated from Thailand i'm sticking to H. myriotricha. The inflorescences is erect and measured 40-50 cm tall from ground. Each flower is about 3 cm across, with long graceful thin fringes on the sidelobes and a long spur.

Again this is a deciduous terrestial from monsoonal belt - Indochina, northern Sumatra, Sulawesi with a very distinct dry/wet season. When the plant is growing, water generously and feed it with dilute fertilizer regularly to promote strong growth and flowers. After flowering, once leaves start to yellow reduce watering as the plant prepares for dormancy by withdrawing starch from the leaves and stem to form the tuber. Slowly, water less and less. Once the tuber is fully form, it can be kept dry for about 3-4 mths.

Eulophia andamanensis

2008-07-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

Chances are you can find pseudobulbs of this species at general herbal, tuber, & bulb store at Bangkok's renowned Chatuchak market. Eulophia andamanensis is a widely distributed species throughout Thailand, into Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam), Myanmar (Tenasserim) and also Northern Malaysia. My gut feel is it can adapt and spread on disturbed forest or grasslands just like Spathoglottis plicata occupying degraded land in Malaysia and Singapore.

Four or five years ago this guy in my neighbourhood gave me a fistful of pseudobulbs from his sad rotting clump. It thrives under general succulent care ie. if the plant is in leaf i water, else i don't. Over the course of 2 years, the pseudobulbs spread to fill two 12 inch pots. Typically, it stays dormant for about 4-5 mths. Only recently did it flower under severely underpotted condition. There appears to be 2 color forms (light green and brown) in the clumps.

Kalanchoe garambiensis

2008-06-30T02:14:00.000-07:00

Acquired this species from a Taiwanese plant collector in 2006. He told me this is an taiwanese endemic, restricted to the southern coastal rocks and cliffs. One would assume that it is relatively easy to keep this plant coming from a subtropical coastal habitat that experiences deluge of monsoon rain. It proves to be ephemeral in the sense that it can grow rapidly and then loose its roots and cling on to life in the form of small bits of shoots or stems. I suppose it may be the same in the wild.

This is the write-up from http://www.efloras.org/.

Kalanchoe garambiensis Kudo 台南伽蓝菜
Description from Flora of China
Herbs 5-8 cm tall, glabrous. Root stout, sometimes branched. Leaves petiolate; leaf blade spatulate, 1-1.8 × 0.3-0.7 cm, base tapered, margin entire, apex obtuse to shortly acute. Inflorescences laxly
corymbiform, cymose, 3-10-flowered. Sepals ovate-oblong, ca. 5 mm, glandular, apex acute. Corolla yellow; tube slender, ca. 2 cm, base urceolate; lobes broadly ovate, apex obtuse, subconcave, or acute. Fl. Apr, fr. Aug.
This species could be regarded as a very depauperate form of Kalanchoe integra. See J. Jap. Bot. 78: 252. 2003: Kalanchoe spathulata var. garambiensis (Kudo) H. Ohba.
* Among rocks. S Taiwan.

Echeveria carnicolor

2008-06-25T01:12:00.000-07:00

A local succulent enthusiast purchased this plant from San Francisco. This is America's equivalent of 3 pots for S$10 sale offer at a small nursery. It proves to be a very adaptable and vigorous Echeveria. It offsets readily (above photo)and the bracts on the offset drops most readily. These bracts will take root almost immediately to give new plants (photo below: note another mini plantlet is already growing from a leaf bract bottom right).

The color varies a lot. If grown in shade, the purplish tint is less intense. Under the same condition of light and soil, young plants are also less intensely colored. Unlike other Echeverias, this species can tolerate shade and does not etiolate or become "leggy". I decided this is probably E. carnicolor or a hybrid of possibly Echeveria `Lavender Hill` which is E. carnicolor x E. atropurperea. Both species come from lowland coastal state of Veracruz, Mexico. No wonder it can survive in Singapore!

Take a look at a very extensive photo album of Cok & Ine Grootscholten. I should n't have gave this nursery a miss when i was in Netherlands. A great regret till this day.

Tropical Echeveria?

2008-06-20T00:50:00.000-07:00

If you see an Echeveria as white as this one on sale chances are it is a cool growing species which will collapse under Singapore hot and humid climate. E. lauii is arguably one of whitest and prettiest of echeverias. We have to thank nature for this anomaly. It is found just at a low altitude of 500 m a.s.l in a hot and dry ravine of Rio Salado - Quiotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. This is a relatively slow growing species and it rarely offsets. Fortunately, it can be propagated from leaves and bracts.

Having found a rosette forming member of the crassulaceae family triggers in me a desire to get other Echeverias that may have a good chance of surviving. My shortlist of potential low growing species: E. atropurpurea, E. carnicolor, , E. diffractens, E. nuda, E. racemosa. And if you have any of these species, please contact me!

Impatiens sp Kanchanaburi Province

2008-06-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

Thailand is rich in Impatiens species and there are now more being found and properly described. Since Thailand is home to I. mirabilis - a "giant" stem caudiciform from the karst in south, one would expect more pachycaul Impatiens to be found in the Indo China region with rich in karst habitats. Yes, that's indeed the case. Some new pachycaul species like I. pachycaulon from Laos & I. angulata from Southern Western China. Am not able to put a name to this species from Kanchanaburi province, Thailand, except that it is probably in the same section as I. kerriae. It differs from I. mirabilis in that the inflorescence is non-terminal. The stem is also exceptionally woody amongst known pachycaul Impatiens. From a hobbyist point of view, i would group it with I. verrucifer, I. angulata sharing the same habit, general form and flowering characteristics.

Caralluma hexagona

2008-05-31T07:59:00.001-07:00

This very small dainty stapeliad was purchased from the famous Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, Thailand. It is a strongly branching plant with forms a small mound or mat over time. I was trying to put an identification to it for some time. At first i thought it was C. greenbergiana then C. foulcheri-delboscii and also possibly C. shadhbana or it could be C. hexagona as well. Yes, i was nearly right. The taxonomist as least according to the chapter Caralluma by B. Muller & Albers in Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants - Asclepiadaceae has reduced all the difficult to spell species epithets to something easy to remember C. hexagona. Let's keep our fingers crossed... you never know when somebody might do some splits or revisions or unearth some earlier published species name than will take precedence according to International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

This is widely distributed species from the Arabian peninsular (Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman). Since it is probably more adaptable given its habitat range that may explain why my clone is heat tolerant. A general rule of thumb is to propagate it during the vegetative phase; it can sometimes collapse without a good reason, remnant branches can prove difficult to root.

Orbea dummeri

2008-05-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

On my second attempt keeping O. dummeri, it rewards me with strickingly beautiful flowers. Perhaps it is a more heat tolerant clone after going through a rot or thrive selection process over Southern Taiwan's hot 36 C summers. According to Monograph of Orbea and Ballyanthus by P. V. Bruyns in Systematic Botany Monographs Vol.63, it is a species higher and drier parts of Kenya, and other neighbouring countries of the Rift Valley occuring from 950 - 1600m. The plant in my first failed attempt came from chiller greenhouse of the West, and it quickly perished.

Over the last couple of years, i come to realized that stapeliads are not so difficult to keep if they can tolerate heat in the high 30Cs. Should they look limp and a bit desiccated after their peak growth or flowering season... let them be. They just need a dry rest with a bit of water just to keep them from unrecoverable desiccation. During this period, look out signs of deadly pest like spider mites. Spider mites can easily reduced plants to sad resting state look! When new growth starts, water & fertilize. And if it is a tempermental species take cuttings and keep an extra pot!

Mexican Poppy

2008-05-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

We were trying to find a short cut to the bank of the Irrawaddy river at Mandalay, Myanmar. On the map it seemed easy enough to cross several blocks and we will get there. Actually, it was easy enough... but we were not prepared for the reality. It cuts through a very poor part of town, full of shacks assembled from any materials that the dwellers can lay their hands on. On top of that... there's no river view! We were greeted with an earthen great wall - a levee that was about 10 m above the shanty town! As i was scaling the dusty loose earth i couldn't help imagining a raging river laden with flood waters during the wet monsoon threatening to breach the levee and wipe out the shanty district. Walking on top of the levee i saw some bamboo dwellings build on bamboo rafts with various buoys on the swallows of a drying river. Some 20 m away i spotted a very distinctively sliver white pricky plant (above) facing the drying river. It had beautiful bright yellow poppy-like flower. My instinct was to look for seed pods but it was a young plant with the first flowers. Its existence would be ephemeral given its loose footing on a levee. Sad thoughts aside..would you agree that this plant should deserve a place in a dry garden:
After some research, it is a well-known weed Argemone ochroleuca from Mexico and had a string of common names like Mexican poppy, pricky-thistle and so forth and has naturalized to most of the seasonally dry areas of the world. Despite its weedy status, i was looking forward to grow this plant but getting this weed proved elusive. Today with luck, i am given a handful of seeds thanks to my friend who had just visited a semi-desert area in India. Okay, luck was secondary, i actually prep my friend with a list of what to look out for when he's there!

Caralluma speciosa

2008-05-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

This is one of the very old succulents that i managed to keep alive. Got it "once-upon-a-time" from Out-of-Africa Plants when general succulent prices were much lower. That was before the US housing bubble, when oil prices are in the low twenties, the price of Caralluma somalica in the catalogue was probably at ~$8 and US oversea postage was relatively low and then surface mail option was still available. It wanted to flower couple of times over the past years but the buds aborted. The La Nina cooling effect of 2007 has triggered it to flower over Nov'07-Feb'08 period.

It did not turned out to be C. somalica as labelled but C. speciosa. The perfectly symmetrical ball of inflorescence about 10 cm across is very impressive. Well, the foetid rotten flesh odor will get your attention within a couple of meters. The smell attracts big carrion flies. It took me many tries to get a decent picture - the corona has bright luminescent quality and contrast poorly with the yellow corolla tube; either the corona is overexposed or the dark maroon corolla lobes are underexposed.

This is one of the big clumping Caralluma found in tropical East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda & Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, probably also in Djibouti or Eritrea) on dry rocky savanna or semi-desert lowland habitat. C. speciosa and other like C. adenensis, C. somalica, C. acutangula (C. retrospiciens) and C. edithae are similar species that can be "grouped" together. Now, am awaiting another big clumping Caralluma sp. purchased from Bangkok to flower.

Hoya imbricata

2008-05-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hoya imbricata is endemic to The Philippines. It is found on tree trunks at low to medium altitudes in Bontoc, Rizal, and Laguna Provinces in Luzon and in Busuanga. A thin wiry stem climbs up bare trunk and bears convex disc-shaped leaves up to 12 cm across. If the leaves cannot find a flat surface to wrap around, it will form a half-pouch. In cultivation with limited slab climbing for the growing plant, this takes away the full beauty of this Hoya. Some forms are more attractive with contrasting marble on intense reddish-purple leaves. Ants can take shelter under the leaves or in the pouch. It parallels its cousin Dischida cochleata in its myrmecophytic habit.

The flowers are borne on leafless stems; velvety, and creamy-white 8 to 10 millimeters in diameter. The umbel is geotropic (facing down) and that makes it challenging to photograph. See if you can spot the copper wire that was use to right it up to face the light. This was a 2-leaf cutting gift that my friend brought back from the famous Bangkok's Chatuchak Market. Back then, it was a rare hoya.

Chirita drakei in flower

2008-04-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

This is a follow-up post for Chirita drakei in Feb 2008. After making my comments in a public blog that i think it will not flower for me, the plant has decided to do just that in end March 2008! Unusually large bracts protect the buds. I failed to detect any hint of fragrance or carrion. The pollen is not exposed and it requires an insect to eat or destroy the anther caps before releasing the dusty pollen. The self-pollination attempt is so far so good with 3 thin long capsule developing. The true test for viable seeds is still months away.

Oeceoclade calcarata

2008-04-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

This is probably one of the more commonly offered Oeceoclades species in the orchid market. I got my from Burleigh Park Orchids an Austrialian nursery by sharing a shipment with other local orchid hobbyists. Once again, the label says it is O. decaryana. Many other offers and photos on the web suggest it is O. calcarata. This is my first and oldest pot of Oeceoclades. And one of the most prolific growers with multiple growing points. Even the bud on top of a old pseudobulb is capable of giving rise to an new offset - bottom right. It is extremely succulent and drought tolerant with very strong thick roots covered with exceptionally spongy velamen. Unfortunately, it is flower shy; a firm identification will have to wait. Garay & Taylor* mentions that the type specimen is without precise locality, probably again from deciduous forest of northern or western Madagascar.

This post and the last few posts cover my Oeceoclades collection. If someone is going to order an Oeceoclades petiolata from ISI 2008 offering contact me!

*The Genus Oeceoclades by L. Garay & P. Taylor in Botanical Museum Leaflets Harvard University, Vol. 24, No. 9.

Oeceoclades spathulifera?

2008-04-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

This is species very closely related to O. calcarata. In my view, without flowering this orchid, it would be more appropriate to classify it as different colour variant of O. calcarata. The leaves are very thick, the surface is hard and shiny as if coated with clear varnish. The thick, hard pseudobulbs are distinctively 4-angled. I got it when it was a seedling and it came with a label O. spathulifera. It would not be wrong to say that it comes from the deciduous-scrub of western Madagascar.

Oeceoclades roseo-variegata

2008-04-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

This is the type species that comes from near Diego Suarez, Montague des Francaise.

Another Oececlades

2008-04-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

Got this beautiful form of O. roseovariegata through plant exchange. It is originated from "Berevo", which i presume is a village marker for locality. The cryptic reddish-marbled tesselation is regal. The leaf surface is also rather unusual for an orchid, it seems to be covered with a very fine felt or has minute projections. It is not "hairy". The type species comes from near Diego Suarez, Montague des Francaise; leaf margins is not as undulating in comparison.

The flowers are small, odourless and insignificant. My self pollination attempt was a failure. Given it's locality up in the northern most tip of Madagascar, reckon it should in theory get more rain and therefore can tolerate more water. At this point with only 1 pot, i'm in no hurry to push it for faster growth.

Oeceoclades peyrotti

2008-04-07T22:56:00.000-07:00

I went to the 2007 Johor Orchid Show without expectation; but was really lucky and managed to pick up an unexpected gem Oeceoclades peyrotti. The vendor was selling 6 mth old seedlings out of flask. He purchased this flask of new offering while attending some orchid conference or meeting in France or was it somewhere Europe i cannot recall. This newly described species has been around since 1974, recollected again in the 1990s and was growing in collection of jardin des Cedres at St Jean Cap Ferrat in Southern France. Again, it is a species from the dry deciduous forest of southwestern Madagascar. **

As i was able to successfully nurse from 2 to 4 pseudobulbs it has paid back my small investment. Cultivation is not different from the other oeceoclades. Need to dry out between watering. Potting in very coarse free-draining inorganic mix of rocks, lime or charcoal ... basically any coarse filler material, and filling interstitial space with finer sand or humus.

** Contribution à l'étude des Orchidaceae de Madagascar et des Mascareignes. XXXI. Espèces et combinaisons nouvelles dans les genres Oeceoclades, Eulophia et Eulophiella. J. Bosser & P. Morat. Adansonia, Sér. 3 2001. 23(1): 7-22.

Puzzling Oeceoclades Sp

2008-04-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

I got this Oeceoclades seedling from Isobyl La Croix when she offered seed-raised orchids for sale at least 5 years ago. The label suggests O. ambongensis which i had assumed to be correct. Only last year did i manage to xerox a copy of the paper titled The Genus Oeceoclades by L. Garay & P. Taylor in Botanical Museum Leaflets Harvard University, Vol. 24, No. 9. It is a taxonomic paper that suggests a need to split Oeceoclades from Eulophia... a note under O. ambongensis = syn E. ambongense caught my eye: "related species of O. maculata alliance". Looking through a couple of available papers.. it appears that my O. ambongensis have more affinities to O. decaryana. I cannot rule out O. ambongensis because i was not able to get hold of the original description of E. ambongense in an old obscure botanical publication!

The amazing find from websearch yields a mini-picture of a herbarium sheet of Eulophidium ambongense

Holotype of Eulophidium ambongense Schltr. Verified by Perrier de la Bâthie, H., 1950

From: West, sandy forest/wood. [Ouest: bois sablonneux], Manongarivo (Ambongo)

The wealth of online material has just help eliminate the O. ambongense possibility. I just have to wait for flowers to confirm if it is O. decaryana or O. aff*. decaryana! [*decaryana has distinctively 5-angular pseudobulbs]

It is definitely a slow grower. Enjoys drying out between watering. Onion-like 1-1.5" succulent pseudobulbs helps it tide-over long drought much better than fellow madagascan euphorbias! In fact, a distinct period of drought triggers formation of new buds for next season's growth.

Hoya caudata

2008-03-26T23:08:00.000-07:00

This is an endemic hoya to the peninsula: Malaysia and Southern Thailand. It is a fairly common species throughout the peninsula in lowland forest. The flowers are borned on a geotropic (pointing downward in direction of gravity) concave umbel. So it is unavoidable that we always get a backlitted bunch of flowers; it is pretty isn't it (above). The leaves are very succulent and thick, with very strong undulating and rough margins... and the marbled or lichen/mold/fungus-like irregular patch of white makes it very attractive. The leaves (below) are around 15 cm long.

A Rare Dischidia cochleata

2008-03-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

This is a very beautiful ant associated Dischidia species is described by Blume with Type specimen from Java. In The Peninsular Malayan species of Dischidia by R. E. Rintz, it has been recorded from lowland and hill forest of southern 2/3 of the Peninsula; seen once in Selangor; Reported from Malacca, Pahang and Singapore. This species is an "intermediate" ant-plant, with round-convex leaves clasping branches and twigs. Intermediate ant plant in the sense that it does not have well develop ant-housing pouch structure as D. major a native or D. pectinoides from The Philippines but possesses just simple convex-shelter for ants or other insects while many other species like D. nummularia does provide any ant shelter at all.

We were very fortunate to chance upon it on a fallen branch in a recreation stream/waterfall area in Southern Johor. The area has since been destroyed by a flash flood about 2 years ago. This specimen has exceptionally bright red flowers and capped bluish-white lobes; the leaves are covered with small random conical projections, giving it a rough and bumpy texture. So far, this is one of the most best clone ever found; more red versus orange and more textured leaves. It does reasonably well for me, enjoying intense light...some light fertilizing and grown on a stick. This clone has been introduced to a couple of friends in Thailand, Taiwan, Europe and US... but for most is challanging to difficult.

Water Clover

2008-03-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

There is always something new when you go on vacation. I went on a 4 day trip to Thailand in mid-January 2008 to visit friends, plant market and orchid show at Chantaburi. We stopped by a friend's fruit orchard and found in a drying up pond a patch of beautiful Marsilea crenata or water clover. Typically, the leaves are well spaced out and carried on runners on inundated muddy flats. In this photo, it covered the muddy ground with a unusually tight mat of leaves together with a few arrow shaped Ipomoea aquatica* leaves sticking out.

It may not occur to a plant enthusiast that Marsilea is a fern. Unlike other ferns, spores are not borned on the underside of a frond but inside a bean like structure. The spore-bearing leaf has evolved into a special structure called sporocarp:

Just the day after i saw M. crenata in drying-up pool, i found another species M. drummonii growing in a plant enthusiast's collection. This triggered a recollection of Moran's essay**. He wrote of early Australian explorers sustenance on improperly prepared meal of nardoo (M. drummondii) sporocarp which resulted in poisoning and death. The photo below shows M. drummondii with silvery white hairs on its new leaves together with M. crenata. The hairs on top of having underground rhizomes may be an evolutionary adaption to protect young leaves from intense sunlight as M. dummondii is found on harsh seasonally climate that alternates between drought and floods. Interestingly, i found out that M drummondii is native to Thailand and absent from aseasonal Malaysia & Singapore.

*By the way, i. aquatica is 'kang-kong' a staple vegetable in found in south east asian cooking. And a popular dish is sambal kang-kong.

**The Natural History of Ferns, Timberpress by Robbin C. Moran is a wonderful read. It contains an unparalleled collection of highly readable essays on different aspects of fern life, evolution, cultural history, interesting facts and adaptations.

Cylindrical leaf Euphorbia

2008-03-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

This species with 2 subspecies parallels E decaryi with its 2 subspecies decaryi and spirosticha. It possesses leaves with a cylindrical cross section and a distinct center groove. The 2 subspecies are cylindrifolia and tuberifera. Subspecies cylindrifolia does not possess a center-caudex, but seed grown plants spread radially from a center growing point and it also spread through underground stems like E. decaryi. It can therefore forms a mat. Subspecies tuberifera froms a caudex if it is seed grown. The stems spread and branch out from the caudex but does not possess the underground stoloniferous habit. In time it can form a large caudex covered with a neat dense mat spread of linear leaves.

Above is the subspecies tuberifera with stems radiating from a center-caudex.

It is also a species from the dry Alluaudia-Didierea forest in southwestern Madagascar on limestone substrate. E. cylindrifolia v. cylindrifolia can easily be started from cutting and given time will grow true to form with stems radiating from a point. However, it is necessary to start E. cylindrifolia v. tuberifera from seeds to get a caudex plant. So far, i've not tried taking leaf cuttings of v. tuberifera to root but it should be possible. I did recall that one of my v. cylindrifolia stem cutting was rotten all the way to the base and only a rooted leaf was left. A new plant did eventually grow and forms a nice mat.

Another Euphorbia decaryi variety

2008-03-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

I got it as a cutting and it was introduced here from a Indonesian who made a donation of an assortment of succulents to our local botanical garden. That's as much history that was traceable. It is a very beautiful clone with dark purplish green leaves which is very constrasting. In cultivation, it less robust and slower requiring more shade and less water compared to the type E. decaryi v. decaryi. It also spreads with underground stems which points to either a form of E. decaryi v decaryi or a new species with an affinity with E. decaryi. So far it has not flowered. So far, i have not located photos of this clone on the web.

Euphorbia ambovombensis

2008-03-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

Another distinctive species from the Alluaudia-Didierea forest around the small town of Ambovombe in Southern Madagascar. It superficially resemble E. decaryi var spirosticha, but differs from having a large caudex and does not spread via underground stems. The branches are thin and roundish while those in E. decaryi are thick and angular. The photographed clone is unique amongst the few other clones from different sources in my collection. The leaf margin waviness depends on intensity of exposure to sunlight. The top leaves are sheltered while the bottom leaves are exposed. My other ambovombensis does not have this reaction exposure. It enjoys some shade. Strong exposure slows down growth but encourages flowering.

By the way, after some experimentation it is possible to root and start this plant from leaf cuttings. Nonetheless, it forms a caudex in time.

Euphorbia capsaintemariensis

2008-03-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

E. capsaintemariensis is another ally to E. decaryi. The deep emerald green leaves and erect cyathia distinguish it from E. decaryi. The above photo is of a seed grown plant. It has a branching and low spreading or prostrate habit; remains a single specimen and does not spread via underground stems. It flowers freely like E. francoisii. This species has a more restricted distribution coming from Cap Sainte Marie, the southern most point in Madagascar. The vegetation consists of low bushes and has the wind swept look. As its habitat lack dense shade, it is may explain why it is more sun loving compared E. decaryi. Also it enjoys a drier treatment too. While young seedlings can be pushed with more water to accelerate growth, at some point of maturity watering must be reduced or it will suffer from root loss or collapse from rot.

Chirita drakei

2008-02-23T20:34:00.000-08:00

Gesnariad is a group of plant that i don't grow. It is just too herbaceous and soft. Well there are interesting exceptions like Sinningia cardinalis with soft wooly felt covered leaves rising from a large tuber. It has a nice rosette of leaves, and i wish it is as compact as in Echeveria. But nevertheless, it has some xeric characteristics... thick succulent leaves protected by short silvery white hairs which attracted me. This interesting Chirita is found on expose limestone karst in Halong Bay area, Vietnam. There is a watercolor plate in Wild Plants of Ha Long Bay which suggests C. drakei. The inflorescence is kind of unique, with a pair of large basal leaf bracts. It is described as spring flowering and will appreciate cooler temps for good flowering. Unfortunately, the buds aborted possibly due to high temperatures here on the seasonless equator. The plant will eventually lean over to form a woody cascading bush with multiple rosette of silvery green leaves. It should make a good uncommon bonsai subject. Currently with only a primary stem, i'm trying to propagate by rooting leaf cuttings.

There appears to be several species like C. linearifolia (S. China), C. balansae (N Vietnam) with a similar vegetative form and limestone karst habitat. Let's hope that my C. linearifolia survives domestic UK mail and another trip via airmail

Hydnophytum- Part 9

2008-02-20T07:02:00.000-08:00

For some reason, this does not look like a typically antplant. The basal tuber is not large relative to the leaf, there are few signs of ant entrance holes or looks like it can house ants. The tuber is also hairless or thornless. This is Hydnophytum simplex. The epithet simplex is probably means simple in Latin... but my google search gives veneral disease - herpes simplex and simplex as in geometry. Nevertheless, anything that comes from Aru Island off New Guinea in the Arafura Sea is rare in cultivation and very exotic. The attractive bright red berries in the insert is borned on a "branch" like cauliflory or "stem flower".

With big leaves and photosynthetic green tubers it likes ample water however, it is surprisingly tolerant of water stress. It does not shed leaves in response to drought. Instead the leaves curl-up and young leaves develop permanent deformity if water stressed.

Hydnophytum Sp hairy flowers - Part 8

2008-02-13T21:04:00.000-08:00

I thought this would be just another H. moselayanum variant. Was lucky to be visiting my friend in southern Taiwan just when he returned from a trip to Jakarta. He brought back goodies (some ant plant seedlings) and offered me to pick a few. They were deemed to be of 1 type. Actually, the seedlings are most indistinguishable. I just picked 3 most dissimilar plants... and it turned out that one of them is really different. This one has got hairy flowers. And not only that the leaves and internodes are longer compared to other H. moselayanum under similar exposure to sun and watering regime. While free-flowering, it seems to be less self-fertile. Perhaps it is still a yound plant and sexually immature. The tuber has entrance holes "raised" like an annulus. It will be another one of those interesting species in need of locality data!

Hydnophytum Sp - Part 7

2008-02-05T22:40:00.000-08:00

This is a very interesting H. formicarum look alike. The tuber ridging and color resemble H. formicarum from Singapore. Well, the leaves are much bigger almost 10 cm long and 7 cm across. The leaf resembles some of the shrubby Ixora sp which is also incidentally from Rubiaceae. We have yet to see mature berries and like H. formicarum aborts easily during windy and dry weather.

This specimen comes from the island of Halmerhara, the largest island in the Maluku group. One would expect it to possess more xeric characteristics given its geographic location lies between much larger island of Sulawesi and New Guinea on the monsoonal zone. Large floppy leaves are kind of ill-adapt for seasonal climate, we are not prepared to allow it to shed its leaves at this point until we get more seedlings.

Hydnophytum - Part 6

2008-01-25T05:25:00.000-08:00

A picture is worth more than a thousand words: the leaves of various Hydrophytum sp. in the formicarum - moselayanum complex placed side-by-side. Noticeably, the lateral veins are more prominent in the formicarum and leaf thickness increases towards moselayanum.

Trying to justify back-dating this posting; this jpeg composite was created way back in mid-Jan 2008.

Hydnophytum - Part 5 (moseleyanum)

2008-01-13T02:44:00.000-08:00

This is a composite picture. Click and open in new window for an enlarge version.

Clockwise from the top: (1) Commonly traded species in US (2) Sp from Papua, ex Botanical Gdn, Europe (3) Sp from Northern Australia ex Botanical Gdn (4) 2 Sp from Triton Bay, Irian Jaya.

The commonly traded species has been identified as H. moseleyanum (syn. H. papuanum) and is also almost identical to the species from a Botanical Gardens in Europe collected in 1960s or 1970s from New Guinea. They have matt lime-green semi-succulent leaves and silvery brown tubers. The species from Northern Australia is also similar but is more deciduous under the same cultivation regime. It shreds leaves easily when dry. Finally, 2 species from Irian Jaya looks more intermediate just like the other H. aff. moseleyanum from the Philippines and Bogor, Java. These 2 irian plants differs in having longer pointed leaves.

Maybe it is more practical to define this group as a formicarum-moseleyanum complex rather than to pin a name to it.

Hydnophytum - Part 4 (aff. moseleyanum)

2008-01-12T10:59:00.000-08:00

I started off by introducing Hydnophytum with affinities to H. moseleyanum without introducing H. moseleyanum. Why? The reason will be obvious in part 5. Here, i have taken the liberty to label those which have the H. moseleyanum look but are found outside and farway from New Guinea.

The above species comes from the Philippines. Like the former Bogor plant, it has semi-succulent leaves stacked closely together and the veins are not prominent.

Hydnophytum - Part 3 (aff. moseleyanum)

2008-01-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

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.

Hydnophytum - Part 2 (aff. formicarum)

2008-01-08T23:44:00.000-08:00

Continuing from Part 1, this species comes from the island of Borneo. It is really similar to H. formicarum in Part 1, except for the generally smaller stature and having linear leaves. It is definitely a slower plant compared to H. formicarum type and it has to start off life with a smaller seed too.

Hydnophytum - Part 1 (formicarum)

2008-01-06T05:29:00.000-08:00

I wonder if anyone has heard of antplants? Okay, there will always be ants around plants looking out for food - coaxing sugary secretions from mealies, feeding on nectar rich flowers, collecting sweet secretion from nectary glands on leaves giving some protection to Impatiens. More specifically, i shall refer to antplants as plants that provide a home for the ants. The family Rubiaceae has a few highly evolved genus - Hydnophytum, Myrmecodia, Myrmephytum Anthorrhiza, Squamellaria which provide a complex honeycomb structure for housing ants! These plants have a fat stem base or "caudex" that can house ants, and in nature antplants are invariably populated with ant colony. In cultivation, these plants also develop a caudex irrespective of whether ants choose to migrate or live there. There is a symbiotic relationship between plant and ants. Ants provide nutrients and at the same time protect antplants from its insects or even human enemies. While the antplant provides a shelter for ant colony. Well, i don't want to go into the details but Nick Plummer has a good website that covers this topic with a reference list.

Hydnophytum is the genus with the widest distribution from Fuji Islands in the Pacific to Andaman Islands in the Indian ocean and from Southern Indochina to Cape York in Australia.

Let's start off with the better known Hydnophytum formicarum (photo above). This plant is in cultivation in both private and botanical collections for sometime. Various distinctive forms or varieties are available from specialist nurseries time to time and they are mostly labelled as H. formicarum. Personally, these are probably variations of one species complex or have evolved into different species from west to east. Base on regional flora, Hydnophytum represented by one species which is H. formicarum in Andaman Islands, Peninsular Thailand & Malaysia, Sumatra. Observations of wild H. formicarum plants in Peninsular Malaysia and its offshore islets in the South China seas yield little variation. Thai plants are also similar. The leaves are leathery and have prominent veins, tubers are invariably dark brown with ant entrance holes irregularly placed. The "spination" or "bristles " covering the tubers are root stubs which stop growing. Tuber ridges and lobings are irregular. Having seen many seedlings from the same mother plant, the caudex is shaped more by environment conditions then genetics. More to come... in Part 2.

A Tuberous Impatiens

2008-01-05T05:05:00.000-08:00

This is probably one of the better known impatiens amongst caudiciform and succulent growers, little known in the wider ornamental plant growing community. Werner Rauh has chosen this species to be included in his book Succulent and Xerophytic Plants of Madagascar Volume One, Strawberry Press (1995). It is aptly named Impatiens tuberosa. It is a perennial which sheds its stems during the dry season when it goes dormant. With the onset of the next growing season, new stems will emerge from the dormant buds on the stubby irregular above ground tuber. The plant comes from Montagnes des Francais near Antsiranana and Windsor Castle in Northern Madagascar on limestone cliff. It is likely to be found growing in cracks with accumulated peat with other Euphorbia species from the same area.

The flowering plant above is only 3 mths old from seed! Perhaps its rapid growth is an adaption to the strongly seasonal climate with a short rainy monsoon. The caudice is not obvious at this stage. But it is clear from the photo below that the stem will abscise just above the tiny bud:

Portulaca - Identification Help?!

2007-12-24T04:05:00.000-08:00

This is tiny plant. Flower is about 2 cm across. Unlike other P. grandiflora type or hybrids where the flowers open early in morning, this flower open after noon. It appears to have been introduced into Singapore market from Taiwan.

Iridescent Begonia

2007-12-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

A cover photo got to be good right? Here it goes, Begonia pavonina. An iridescent begonia endemic to the highlands of West Malaysia. Iridescence is caused by refraction of light and it is probably best represented in cultivation by "blue" ferns - Pyrrosia sp or fern-allies - Selaginella sp.
Okay it is not really as exciting, the flash from my camera just manages to get it from the right angle and the former picture captures the full glory. The above picture captures an average plant. To some extend, the amount of iridescence depends on intensity of light on the plant, age of leaves, genetics ...

Yellow Impatiens

2007-12-15T06:23:00.000-08:00

This is probably the most beautiful impatiens species endemic to West Malaysia. I. oncidioides is a well documented species found along riverine forest in the montane zone of the Main Range. It is a lush herb that grows not too far from flowing water along earth banks in dappled shade.
Raymond Morgan mentions in his book Impatiens (Timberpress, 2007), that hybridizers have tried to cross this species with New Guinean species to produce good solid yellow flowers... but their efforts are not rewarded. The yellow genes appear to be recessive.

This species is not threaten on account of numerous seedlings and young plants. It even survived grass cutting activity along the trail. But it will not survive destruction of habitat unless transplanted to a suitable montane riverine valley. M. Henderson described this species being common in Cameroun Highlands and Fraser Hill in his 1960s book Common Malayan Wildflowers, but personally i have not seen it at Fraser Hill.

Other companion herbs include an iridescent "blue" begonia by the name of B. pavonina and gesneriads.

A Hoya?

2007-12-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

This is another shy to flower vine. It took a me long time for me to identify it. This leafless green vine is not a hoya, a dischidia or a cynanchum. I first saw it twining over scrub on limestone cliffs at Raleigh beach, Krabi. The impression then was dodder (Cuscuta sp), a parasitic vine commonly found on mangrove and coastal vegetation. But it is too green and has a milky sap, and that helps me to narrow down to milk-weed family (Asclepiadaceae). Again i found it in Halong Bay, Vietnam... twining over Euphorbia antiquorum and other Dracaena. With luck it was in flower and i'm now able to narrow it down to Sarcostemma brevistigma. Unlike Hoya and dischidia, it would never really find a place in collections for lack of flowers and its vining habit. Well it is bless with robustness and a very wide distribution range from India, Nepal, Myanmar and all the way to Thailand, Vietnam and Southern China and is unlikely to face extinction.

Euphorbia or Begonia?

2007-12-05T05:33:00.000-08:00

This colorful leafy succulent is popular in any sizeable succulent collection. It is probably the closest begonia look alike for a euphorbia species. Euphorbia francoisii is found in under shade from sandy Alluaudia-Didierea thorn forest of southern Madagascar. It is vegetatively allied to Euphorbia decaryi, E. cap-saintmariensis, E. cylindrifolia and E. ambovombensis from the same area. If the plant is seed-grown, there would be a slight basal swelling known as a caudex. The beautiful white-marbled specks, red-hues and veination on the leaves vary from one clone to another. The leaves are very variable and even on the same plant, it is highly dependent on the intensity and the amount of light. Lower leaves being shielded from strong light maybe deep green with little marbling. Generally speaking, high light intensity encourages more white-marbled specks and brings out red hues.

This clone in the photograph below may be a form of E. francoisii v. crassifcaulis 'rubra' with bigger leaves, strong wavy margins and pink veination.
Under equatorial conditions, i learn the hard way after killing cuttings or part of a specimen that it enjoys some shade and will appreciate heat relief under shade when the mercury hits the 35°C or more. Limpy leaves are signs of heat stress or dryness. Caution...if the leaves do not regain turgidness after watering, it maybe under severe heat stress and should be move to a shadier spot for observation and careful watering!

Dead Leaf Euphorbia

2007-12-02T05:29:00.000-08:00

I have this beautiful pot of Euphorbia decaryi var. spirosticha placed strategically near the door to my house. But beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder; a Chinese New Year visitor once asked, "why're you keeping a rotten pile of dead leaves?" Well... i was too upset to correct her. Wait until she got caustic sap white from this plant on her hands, she would realize that it is far from dead.

Surely, if the visitor had looked closer... she would have seen the fresh green new growth! This cryptic mat forming plant is one of my all time favourite Euphorbia. Even if you start off with a cutting or underground stolon or stem with age it forms a mat with new stems spreading out from the center.
E. decaryi comes from the Didierea-Alluaudia forest in Southern Madagascar. It is one of the few Euphorbias with the distinction of being under CITES Appendix 1*. By definition, it is a very endangered and rare species. However, it proves to be very easy and amendable in cultivation and E. decaryi var spirosticha is probably one of the common succulents propagated for sale in nurseries. The type - E. decaryi v decaryi being less attractive is less common in cultivation.

Both varieties are very easy to raise in Singapore - if they are given good bright light and sheltered from rain. They can grow in any mix provided that mix dries out well in between watering. Strong light brings out the brown hues and shade encourages lush green leaves.

*Appendix 1 includes species threatened with extinction. Trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances.

Impatiens chinensis

2007-11-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

It was a painfully slow 24 hrs ride from Hoi An to Dalat. I left Hoi An in the evening to arrive in Nha Trang around dawn. I caught the bus to Dalat at round 9 am traveling at 50 km/hr through rather degraded pastureland. The bus snaked up to the Dalat plateau after lunch. The montane coolness was revitalizing and refreshing; pine plantation started to appear. From the window, i caught a glimpse of delicate pink flowers near ditches or drainage channels. Unfortunately, the bus was not going to stop... However, i was lucky my guide brought me to a less frequent small waterfall the following day to see the dalat sights. Here i managed to photograph this beautiful Impatiens chinensis in situ. It was then approaching the dry season, there were no mature seed pods to be seen.

Trying to pin a name to this species drawed a blank until 2006 when a Taiwanese nurserymen identified it as I. chinensis. It was said to be common weed of Southern China in marshy areas. A websearch yields couple of photos of this species but the flowers are smaller, less symmetrical and the color is inferior. If you can confirm; or suggest another identification, would like to have your comments.

Impatiens from Vietnam

2007-11-20T02:14:00.000-08:00

I was at Border's this weekend. Wasn't having any expectation of new interesting plant books on the shelf. Browsing through familiar titles i came across a new title Impatiens by Raymond Morgan (Timberpress). The author covered impatiens from Africa, Masdagascar, Indian sub-continent, Southeast Asia and China. Was very tempted to buy it but after the initial excitement... i realized that most species (with pictures) are quite well known. Christopher Grey-Wilson has devoted a monograph - Impatiens of Africa. So i am encouraged start-off with a few impatiens i saw during my travels around Southeast Asia.

I chanced upon this impatiens at Cat Ba Island, Halong Bay during my Vietnam trip in Nov 2005. This perennial balsam was found growing from peaty humus pockets on razor sharp eroded karst. It grows to around 50-80 cm tall from the base and have very pale pink or white flowers. It has a spindle-shaped basal stem up to the first side-branch. Wild plants of Halong Bay identified this as I. verrucifer. Flora of vietnam gives a distribution to include Ninhbinh, Quangnam and Phanrang on the mainland. Athough the plant is flowering vigorously, there is no developing or mature seed pods. I was not sure if November is the flowering season; maybe it is just opportunistic flowering when water is available. That year was probably an anomaly with typhoon bringing rains later and further north. October till April is normally the cool season and past typhoon season. Other plants that share a similar eco-niche are Euphorbia antiquorum, Sacrostemma sp (milk weed stem-climber), Dracaena cambodiana (Yucca-like), Drynaria sp (fern), Stephania sp (climber with peltate leaves & has a tuber).

Mystery Crassulaceae

2007-11-17T06:11:00.000-08:00

This plant is a real pain to identify but only those in Singapore will have this problem. Let me explain... it appears on sale infrequently, it looks like a Kalanchoe, and like kalanchoe it can be started easily from bits of stem or broken leaves, but nobody has seen the flowers. Being right on the equator, okay to be exact just 1° north of the equator, there's no short days of autumn to trigger flowering.

During my recent trip to China, i spotted a nice pot of flowering kalanchoe... but something is not right. The vegetative parts looked like the kalanchoe i know from Singapore but the flowers are wrong! The flowers showed stronger affinities to Sedum. While trying to read up on Chinese plants which i saw during the trip... i come across a photo of the above in The Garden Plants of China by Peter Valder, Timber Press naming it Sedum spectabilis. Going by a more authoritative reference it is Hylotelephium spectabile per Flora of China vol.8. It is found all the way from Eastern China to Manchuria and Korea.

So much for all the mystery... it is just a non-flowering poor specimen of a highly popular ornamental plant introduced to Europe and N. America.

Pectecilis susannae

2007-11-09T23:58:00.000-08:00

This is a very famous orchid. It is found in the monsoon belt of Southeast Asia and into S. China, with a very distinct dry and wet season. The natural habitat is seasonal grasslands, in soil pockets amongst rocks and grass. Rumphius named it after his wife in Flora of Ambon:

in memory of her [Susanna] who when alive, was my first companion and helpmate in looking for herbs and plants, and who was also the first one to show it to me

Currently it is very rare in the wild and equally rare in cultivation. It is rare in cultivation probably because of its very specific growth/dormancy requirements and growers tend to treat it like most other orchids which require year round watering. Like H. lindleyana in the former post, after flowering this species dies down to a tuber resting for couple of months before a new shoot will emerge from the soil. At this point, watering can be resumed. It likes to be grown in sandy clay enriched with high potash & phosphate. The mix must retain moisture and must be well drained. The plant grows vigorously for 3-4 mths before flowering developing a tall stem; the stem should be supported if necessary aovid toppling over resulting in unrecoverable damage to basal stem jointed to the tuber. Watering should be slowly reduce as leaves and flowers dries up to prepare for tuber development and dormancy. Some water should still be given to soften the mix and aid tuber development. Here we go, flowers taken back in Oct this year.

A Perfect Flower

2007-11-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

Before i left for a 2 week vacation ago, this orchid was budding and sending out a long inflorescence. It is the largest inflorescence that it ever had. Fortunately, i was able to have a friend who's an expert plant babysitter. Under tender loving care; under bright indirect light, careful watering, voila: the flowers of Habenaria lindleyana!

This is a seasonal terrestial orchid from thailand and maybe found in other neighboring countries of indochina. After flowering, the inflorescence and leaves will slowly yellow and die. Meantime watering should be reduced correspondingly. A underground tuber will form in time and if the plant is vigorous, mature and robust... with luck maybe one can get 1 large or 2 tubers. It is important that a dry rest is given; tubers can remain in the potting mix with a dribble of water weekly or twice a month. Normally, the tuber will wake up and develop a growing tip after about 3 months of dormancy not very differerent from onions left on in the kitchen. The active life cycle starts here... regular watering, feeding and pest control etc. Light regular feeding with higher P, K is important to ensure vigorous and active growth. Interestingly, i find that this habenaria enjoys a sandy clay mix which retains moisture.

Stonecrop - Orostachys

2007-10-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

This is a surprise for me find to a native succulent in urban China near Shanghai. I first spotted it on a rooftop at Zhujiajiao, a water town just an hour plus from Shanghai. It is growing out between overlapping roof tiles. It is the tall inflorescence that caught my attention. The rooftop mirrors its native ecology - nutrient poor environment, lack of competitive plant species, unhindered exposure to full sun and excellent drainage amongst rocks. The roots anchor steadfast to some dried moss; there is no competitors on this rooftop niche. The following day during excursion to Suzhou, i noted more localities - in LiuYuan (Lingering Garden) and HuQiu (Tiger Hill) on pre-refurbished rooftops.

After doing some research at Shanghai, Fuzhou road bookstores... i manage to narrow it down to Orostachys fimbriatus. It is common plant, use in traditional medicine with poisonous properties... and i quote this from Flora of China 8: 206–209. 2001.

Orostachys fimbriata (Turczaninow) A. Berger in Engler & Prantl, Nat.
Pflanzenfam., ed. 2, 18a: 464. 1930.
瓦松 wa song
Cotyledon fimbriata Turczaninow, Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 17: 241. 1844; C. fimbriata var. ramosissima (Maximowicz) Maximowicz; Orostachys fimbriata var. grandiflora F. Z. Li & X. D. Chen; O. fimbriata var. shandongensis F. Z. Li & X. D. Chen; O. jiuhuaensis X. H. Guo & X. L. Liu; O. ramosissima (Maximowicz) V. V. Byalt; Sedum fimbriatum (Turczaninow) Franchet; S. fimbriatum var. ramosissimum (Maximowicz) Fröderström; S. limuloides Praeger; S. ramosissimum (Maximowicz) Franchet; Umbilicus fimbriatus (Turczaninow) Turczaninow; U. ramosissimus Maximowicz.

Rosette leaves linear, short; appendage white, suborbicular, cartilaginous, centrally spinose, margin fimbriate. Stem leaves linear to lanceolate, 1.9–3 × 0.2–0.5 cm, apex spinose. Flowering stem 10–20(–40) cm. Inflorescence racemose or basally branched and conical, dense, 12–25 × 10–20 cm; bracts linear, apex acuminate; pedicels to 1 cm. Sepals oblong, 1–3 mm. Petals red or white, lanceolate elliptic, 5–6 × 1.2–1.5 mm, base connate for ca. 1 mm, apex acuminate. Stamens shorter than or equaling petals; anthers purple. Nectar scales subquadrangular, apex ubemarginate. Follicles oblong, apical beak slender, ca. 1 mm. Seeds numerous, ovoid, minute. Fl. Aug–Sep, fr. Sep–Oct.

Rocks on slopes, house roofs, mossy tree trunks; below 1600 m (to 3500 m in Gansu and Qinghai). Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Zhejiang [Korea, Mongolia, Russia].
This species is used medicinally.

China is actually fairly rich in crassulaceae, with 233 out of 1500 species. With more species in Sedum, Rhodiola, Sinocrassula, Hylotelephium. So... keep your eyes open when you go on holidays.