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Saturday, April 25, 2020

Dischidia albiflora


Based on the information given in Plant Biodiversity Conservatory and Research Core, 
this Dischidia albiflora Griff. is native plant in Malaysia. 
(synonym) Dischidia borneensis Becc.

The characteristic are a such where the foliage develop imbricate leaves which hold tightly to the growing surface. The underside of the leaf has a space which is filled with roots that creates a miniature sealed dome.

Also I had found various different dischidia with the same name and so I'm really not sure which is which now. Similiar looking ones are Dischidia platyphyllla and Dischidia cornuta.


This one was particularly tricky to begin with when I first purchased it from the nursery when the roots appear to be fastened inside a cocochip medium and the cascading vine with leaves appear to be dehydrated and curled. I had quickly fasten the foliage surface which have roots on each nodes and rolled them on the kokedama surface. 

Eventually the plant picked up, the ones didn't dried up. And so - I'm think the humidity is very important for this one - lacking it may cause due stress for the plant as some of the leaves turned yellow and fall away.


Once it has established itself, new foliage formation began to appear and the whole plant appears to be healthy and rejuvenated. As I mentioned - the leaf surface must close and cover the media surface for optimum growth and success.





This is the underside of the leaf surface appearance - note the root structure.


I had also sipped in another different variety of dischidia here and somehow they are doing well together. 


Basic Care & Maintenance of Dischidia:

Medium:
This require a fast draining medium - something like orchid medium mix.
It does well with a mixture of perlite, sphagnum moss, cocopeat & bark mix.

It should not be a strong drainage mix where it doesn't hold any moisture at all but it should not be holding water too where the roots and stem can rot too. The balance of both is ideal.

Sometimes the nursery plant them - rolling them in a coconut husk making a ball from it. Another medium will be coconut husk stuffed inside a seashell with the dischidia hanging from it.

For sometime - it would look cool but eventually it get spend and burned due to lack of root growth and nutrients - making the plant leggy and trying to escape elsewhere.

Watering:
I water daily and twice during the hot dry days. These can go without water for few days to a week and perhaps you have to take note on how the foliage appearance - if it appears withered or drying than watering is mandatory. The downside of watering will cost the leaves to turn yellow and start rotting - therefore - the right balance is necessary.

Sun:
Dischidia is not a totally shade loving plant but you can place them in bright indoors area. I for one had experience where when it is placed in dark areas - they rarely show new growth and appears to be very leggy (the leaves nodes along the stem appear to phase out far apart and it is very unsightly especially when you prefer to have a compact foliage plants)

These are trailing plant and more on the wild side. The seemed to do well in most unforgiving conditions but at times - just barely surviving and it is indeed a slow growing plant - so don't expect much if you received a small cuttings and looking forward for new growth - It may take many months to actually notice anything.

I for one, just place them in their ideal spot and consider that done there and routinely water them on daily basis and weekly spray flowering fertilizer on them hoping them to bloom. Otherwise, it's another trailing foliage plant that I'm contented with.

Other Factors:

1) Do take effort to foliar fertilizer on them to induce new growth or else it will remain in that same size for months.

2) It's a trailing plant - so do allow space for it to grow and trail heavy, it will climb and vine everywhere - so do take note on that garden space in place them permanently as once it captured and coiled within the garden space - it will be difficult to remove them without cause damage to the vine or foliage.

3) This plant does produce aerial roots and may start off new shoots hence a new plant from a different location where it had rooted. You can propagate new plants from here but do it soon or if in case it had established itself - it would be too difficult to remove them without damaging them.

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Tropical Garden, Batu Caves, Malaysia
My Malaysian Tropical Garden mainly focused on unique and colorful plants ranging from rare to common plants all around the tropical belt across the world. Ideal for inspiration for challenging areas in the garden space - indoor gardening, balcony gardening and small green spaces especially for ariods, bromeliads, begonias, edibles, cascading & vertical garden plants, succulents & cacti, orchids, together with both shade and sun loving plants.

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