Hermetospheres

Experiences with plant life in closed glass containers

Category: Plant categories

Avoid reflections

My standard method to take pictures is, both for containers as a whole and for details within: Place the light source, a camera flash light with remote control, directly on the lid of the container. This prevents the light source from being reflected on the surface of the glass and thus affecting the image. Today,…
Read more: Avoid reflections
The dwarf Microgramma

“Microgramma C.Presl is a fern genus of approximately 30 species in the family Polypodiaceae, all occurring in the Neotropics except one occurring in Africa. They are rhizome-creeping epiphytes, growing from trunk bases to the canopy, with a few species also able to grow in rocky or terrestrial habitats. They occur preferentially in wet tropical forests…
Read more: The dwarf Microgramma
Avoid blurring

Hermetospheres can have a high aesthetic value. If that is part of the motivation behind them, one is tempted to capture the beauty photographically. However, objects behind glass are difficult to photograph. Depending on the optical quality of the glass from which the container is made, the object will appear more or less blurred. My…
Read more: Avoid blurring
The mystery of red leaf undersides

“The lower (abaxial) leaf surfaces of many plant species are brightly colored by red to purple pigments, most commonly anthocyanins. This trait has evolved multiple times independently in the plant kingdom, most prolifically in angiosperms but also in some seedless, vascular plants […], making it a textbook example of convergent evolution.” (Hughes and Lev-Yadun 2023,…
Read more: The mystery of red leaf undersides
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…
Read more: A precious, lichen-like Begonia
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).…
Read more: Root or shoot?
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…
Read more: Acclimation (3): Peperomia sp.
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…
Read more: Tiny flies find tiny flowers
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…
Read more: Acclimation (2): Strobilanthes reptans
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…
Read more: Plant, ant-plant and ant