Aluminium Plant
Pilea cadierei
Urticaceae
Pilea cadierei
Urticaceae
Lives wild in China and Vietnam.
Introduced to Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, and 7 more countries.
Pilea cadierei (or the aluminium plant or watermelon pilea) is a species of flowering plant in the nettle family, Urticaceae. The species is endemic to the southern Chinese provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan, as well as Vietnam. The specific epithet cadierei refers to the 20th-century botanist R.P. Cadière. P. cadierei has earned the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit for its hardiness and reliability as a houseplant. In warmer countries, usually within USDA zones 8–12, the plant may be grown outside year-round as a perennial, either in-ground or contained, and pruned about 50% during the autumn (or whenever blooming concludes).
Two aquariums from Southeast Asia: calm forest streams and peat swamps with soft, brown water, and fast mountain streams with cool, oxygen-rich water.
Light, nutrients and CO₂ in balance, low tech versus high tech, and how to read from the leaves what your plants are missing.