Adiantum reniforme

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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'

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'

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

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

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

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

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

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.