by Chuck Nishihira
Here is a plant that I have had for many, many years. My best guess is that it is from Ecuador or Peru. Even that it is in the Primulaceae is a guess (but one that doesn’t come from me which is a good thing! And instead comes from a much more knowledgeable sours) . One thing that I know about it is that it grows incredibly slow! After all these years, the plant has never gotten taller than 3.5″ with 2.5″ leaves. I could easily be caring for it incorrectly, and maybe it gets to be a lot larger. But it seems healthy and happy.
Unidentified rubiaceae
Unidentified rubiaceae
It would seem to be Labisia pumila, which is a variable species that often has such leaved, and which used to be in Primulaceae (now in the closely related Myrsinaceae). It’s from tropical Asian however; we have it in Singapore but it’s quite widespread in the region. It doesn’t grow much bigger than that, except sideways.