Plant categories – Page 4

A precious, lichen-like Begonia

In 2017, Lin and colleagues described Begonia lichenora as a species new to science. The species is “Distributed in Sarawak, Borneo; known only from Bau to Padawan areas that are at border with West Kalimantan Province of Indonesia. Plants usually climb up the steep, slightly shaded soil slopes in wet dipterocarp forest, elevation ca. 100…
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Root or shoot?

A primeval plant that grows easily in hermetospheres provides insights into the early history of plant development. Initially I had Selaginella uncinata, a spikemoss, growing in a 1 litre jar for a few weeks as a trial. That is how I found that the plant thrives under hermetosphere conditions and spreads quickly (see picture below).…
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Acclimation (3): Peperomia sp.

Why does a plant begin to produce miniature leaves after a change in environmental conditions? This is the provisional story of a Peperomia sp. in one of my hermetospheres. The genus Peperomia is one of the largest genera of basal angiosperms, comprising about 1500–1700 species distributed across all (sub-)tropical regions of the world. The greatest…
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Tiny flies find tiny flowers

At first glance, the flowers of aroids (family Araceae) appear much less spectacular than those of other plants. Aroids are therefore loved by plant enthusiasts far more for their foliage than for their flowers. On closer inspection, however, the flowers offer amazing insights. While tropical aroids have been popular as indoor, terrarium or aquarium plants…
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Acclimation (2): Strobilanthes reptans

Why does a plant begin to produce oversized leaves as soon as it is placed in a hermetosphere? Let us start the story at the beginning: I recently started a hermetosphere to represent New Guinea. Begonia bipinnatifida with its wonderful, reddish, bipinnate leaves should be the main actor and Strobilanthes reptans as well as Davallia…
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Plant, ant-plant and ant

In their natural habitat, the melastoma family plant Pachycentria glauca often grow as epiphythes on ant-plants like Hydnophytum and Dischidia (which themselves usually grow epiphytically). Plants that live in a mutualistic association with a colony of ants are called myrmecophytes. Two morphological features of P. glauca are important for this plant-ant interaction: miniature pearl bodies…
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Succeeding generations (1): Biophytum sensitivum

The title of his article can be understood in two ways. If you have read my [About], you know that my goal in dealing with hermetospheres is to design miniature systems in which each plant reproduces over several generations. With this post, I begin a series of successful examples of second or third generation plants…
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A tiny cosmopolitan

When I started with hermetospheres, mosses were not my first priority. They sometimes came as a stowaway with other plants, and I usually let them grow. They did not trouble and formed a welcome ground cover. Moss first caught my attention when spore capsules developed on long, thin stems in my very first hermetosphere jar.…
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A mysterious orchid with boat-shaped flowers

Very little is known about the orchid Restepia cymbula. According to C.A. Luer (1996), who described the species in the Icones Pleurothallidarium, its presumptive discoverer was Mario Portilla, later co-founder of the famous nursery Ecuagenera Cia. Ltda. Luer writes: “This little species without collection data was obtained in 1992 by Colomborquideas Ltd. above Medellin, Colombia,…
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A vulnerable orchid

Aerangis hyaloides is popular with orchid collectors for its lush, brilliant white flowers. For me, this was also one of the reasons to choose it for my Madagascar container. Other reasons were its small size, its supposedly undemanding cultivation and its suitable temperature, humidity and light preferences as an understory species of lowland forests. My…
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