My guess is that its a Philodendron, any one have any ideas which one??
ID help please
A closer look at the stems
Homalomena rubescens Check this name out in the plant files.
Scott
The ID appears to be very accurate. Homalomena is a completely different aroid genus than the genus Philodendron and the two genera are only very distantly related. Homalomenas are from SE Asia and all Philodendron are native to the tropical Americas even though they have been imported to a great deal of the world.
Growers are sometimes offended when I offer growing suggestions so if you prefer none just ignore this post. This is just a suggestion, but your plant appears to be excessively dry. Having spent some years studying aroids they normally prefer evenly damp soil.
If you are interested in learning how plants such as Homalomena grow in nature you can find potting information on my site. http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Grow%20or%20Growing%20Philodendrons.html Just scroll down to the information on soil mixes.
You may also find information in this link useful: http://www.exoticrainforest.com/What%20is%20a%20stem.%20%20What%20is%20a%20petiole.html
Steve
www.ExoticRainforest.com
This message was edited May 21, 2010 5:38 PM
This message was edited May 21, 2010 5:39 PM
Sorry for what seemed a curt message when I took a stab at the ID but I was trying to get out of my office when I wrote it.
Steve's soil mix that he describes on his site is right on the money, in fact I just started ammending my own aroid mix with finely cut sphagnum moss after reading about his mix. Another arioder buddy of mine likes to include it in his mix not for the water and air holding properties but for the antimicrobial properties.
Steve, do you have an opinion on the subject?
Scott
Thank you for the info!!
Scott, I saw nothing in your post to be curt. Nothing at all.
Most growers start growing aroids because they find one in a store they are attracted to, normally as a result of the shape of the leaves. The internet is absolutely filled with info telling a new grower to water a plant only when it is dry which is not the way very many aroids prosper either in nature or in a collection. That type of information is almost always given by people that know little about how an aroid grows.
Although I grow over 300 species of aroids, I grow a total of one Homalomena and am not certain if this plant grows in nature purely as a terrestrial plant or as an epiphyte in trees. However, I am sending a note to my friend and aroid botanist Pete Boyce in Malaysia shortly to find the answer.
In general aroids need fast draining soil that remains damp. Most terrestrial aroids live in leaf litter along with decomposing vegetation with animal droppings and other forms of natural fertilizer. In order to make the plants we grow prosper in a home or greenhouse we need to copy what Mother Nature has already done. True, Mother Nature has petiods of dryness in the rain forest but the humidity is always high allowing plants to gather moisture from the atmosphere or the leaf litter. Some do dry out completely but most of those live in deciduous zones and are adept at surviving in those regions.
I now have aroids in my collection that are close to 16 feet tall that have produced fully adult leaves and multiple inflorescences every year. I have Anthurium species with leaves nearly 6 feet long or wide and most of those are not fully grown. How we treat a plant makes a difference if we want it to prosper.
I use a variety of mixtures that are normally custom mixed to match the area of the tropics where the plant originates in nature. However, in most cases a mix similar to this works great. I recommend 40% good potting soil, preferably moisture control soil, about 20% to 30% peat moss, orchid bark, especially the finely chopped types, with the balance Perlite, some cedar mulch, a bit of gravel (not limestone) and anything else that will easily compost. The mix is not critical, just the fact it drains quickly so the roots can easily poke around in the soil and do not ever remain in soggy soil.
Totally dry soil is not good since it can create an effect known as the "blanket effect" which promotes unwanted bacteria in the soil. I explain most of this in the link I gave on growing Philodendron.
Some folks really dislike it when I offer advice since they feel I am trying to tell them the way they grow their plants is bad. I never wish to convey that message, only explain what many well trained botanists and growers have explained to me repeatedly.
If you read what I'm posted and wish to follow it, you will be rewarded. If any grower prefers another method they are free to grow their plants any way they wish. Personally, we have encountered outstanding results since I began to listen to the experts at the Missouri Botanical Garden where the basis for the mixture I recommend originated.
Good growing, and thanks Scott. We'll be in Key West in September while attending the International Aroid Society conference and show in Miami. I hope I will be able to meet you.
Steve
Scott, I saw nothing in your post to be curt ether :-)
I was in fact told to grow it dry by the green house who sold it to me. I wanted to id it before I decided the best way to grow it (the more you know about a plant, the better your success with it) I will try your potting mix, thanks for the recipe.
I asked aroid botanist Pete Boyce who studies Homalomena in Malaysia about how these plants grow in nature. This was his response, "They are in the main terrestrial. A few are lithophytic and a few are obligate rheophytes. As yet no records of epiphytes."
A lithophytic plant is one that grows attached to stone and not in soil. Rheophytes include semi-aquatic as well as aquatic plant species which live attached to stones in fast moving currents. The force of the fast moving current creates oxygen-rich water. An epiphyte is a plant that grows attached to a tree. Accordingly, the majority of Homalomena species grow in the soil.
Homalomena are a rain forest species and receive lots of water naturally every year. Pete's explanation would tend to lead to the concussion these species like water, just make sure the soil is porous.
Steve
That plant is beautiful..
thank you joeswife!
Batflower, where did you get that? I had one in my foyer once, but no longer. You could ball up the leaves and they'd bounce right back!!! I'd love to find another!
Marianne
I have two Homalomenas, one fully peltate, and these two in particular seem to thrive best with roots partially submerged in water at all times. In fact, the peltate one seems to grow well only if it has this treatment. I don't have a good ID on the plant but it has bloomed and the inflorescence is definitely a Homalomena infloresence.
I also mix my own soil media according to the type of plant I'm going to place in it. IMHO, no one should assume that one soil mix will work for all plants, and this is especially true for aroids. However, proper fertilization and pH of the soil mix is at least as important as the composition of the soil mix itself. Growing in a rainforest does not mean that a plant needs to be sopping wet, as lithophytes will have a lot of aeration to the roots,even in the middle of a downpour. Such plants kept constantly moist in a peat mix can rot off quickly, in my experience.
This message was edited Jul 2, 2010 3:33 PM
Amen to that LariAnn. I mix the soil for every single plant in my collection based on where and how it grows in nature. When I offer a soil mix suggestion it is simply the basis for a place to start. My main concern is primarily having growers place any aroid in a soggy off the shelf soil mix.
Thanks for the correction.
Steve
I am glad you post what we should plant in, I have saved many a plant by following your advice.. If only my friends and family would listen that would be great. I would love to get one of those, but have to wait awhile. I am getting my topicals home for the winter fixed up now, so I don't have to feel rushed. I do have a question, when do you re-pot aroids? One of mine is looking pretty crowded in its pot.
Personally, I don't have a regular schedule but I've watched Emily at the Missouri Botanical Garden repot and have asked how she schedules it. She has chosen to move plants up in pot size anytime they become root bound. She keeps tags in every pot (at least 1000 of them) and changes their soil on a regular basis.
Many growers like to see their plants become root bound because they feel it causes the plant to expand faster. I tend to think as Mother Nature would since plants have a very difficult time becoming root bound in the wild and just continue to spread their roots in the loose soil.
For years I have always planted my plants in pots that are a fair amount larger than the root system when allows them to develop a very healthy root system before the plant begins to grow up wards. At least in my case that works very well since I now have plants climbing to the 12 foot level and higher and I am in Arkansas of all weird places to grow tropicals.
I would give any root bound plant a larger pot right away but there are also other schools of thought.
Steve
Thank you, I think I will re-pot this one then. It would probably give me the red spathe bloom I bought it for then.
Steve is correct about root room for plants, generally, but in the case of a few finicky aroids, I know they must be kept in smaller pots than common sense would dictate. The reason for this is that these particular plants are very prone to root rots if the soil medium remains too moist, too long. Most of the Alocasias I refer to as "jewels" fall in this category. I once had a very nice large specimen of Alocasia reginula that was in a somewhat small pot. I reasoned that this plant would appreciate more root room, so I moved it up to a 2.5 gallon Air-Pot. At first it was happy, but as I watered regularly and the moisture content of the mix gradually increased, the plant proceeded to rot off at the roots. I ended up losing it completely. The so-called Alocasia "tigrina superba" can be grown as tall as 2 to 3 feet in a 6" pot! If you pot it up larger, get ready to lose it, or water it sparingly, which is tricky in a larger pot.
Just my $0.02 US.
LariAnn