| A houseplant that I bought on October 5th, is now featured. I have lived with it long enough to write about it, photograph it, taste it, and to give it away. |
| It is beautiful, and agreeably edible. But is so thirsty it really ought to live in a tropical wet jungle, or greenhouse, or at least a large terrarium. In my Seattle apartment, inadequate humidity of about 60% makes its leaf tips scorch and curl. If you live in Seattle, and have a green thumb and high humidity, come and take it. I can use its space for a new, less fussy acquisition. |
| Monolena primuliflora lacks an English name except some people apply the vague name "Ant Plant" to it, so I call it Neotropical Sorrel. It grows from Guatemala to S Peru, in steamy jungles, as an epiphyte. It was cultivated by 1868, and named by 1870. The plant has a swollen, fleshy swollen rhizome that bears its leaves. The blades are (3) 5 to 7 (9) veined. They measure up to 9 7/8 inches long, 6 3/4 inches wide, their stem up to 8 inches long. The leaves look hairless and shiny but are minutely hairy. The top side is green, bottom red to green. Very attractive coloration, as my photos show. The flowerstalk bears anywhere from 2 to a dozen flowers. Each flower has 5 pink or white petals. A little triangular seed capsule ensues. |
| The genus Monolena is epiphytic for the most part, and grow mostly in Panama and west Colombia. A genus related closely is Triolena. Neither is well known in cultivation. |
The plant has a sorrel-like flavor. In other words, it is acidic, like a lemon, or genera Begonia and Oxalis. So it is agreeable in a salad.
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A self sown Monolena primuliflora in the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers ; photo by ALJ
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My Monolena primuliflora Oct. 5th; photo by ALJ
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My Monolena primuliflora Nov. 5th ; photo by ALJ
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My Monolena primuliflora Nov. 16th ; photo by ALJ
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My Monolena primuliflora Dec. 1st ; photo by ALJ
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Seed capsule of Monolena primuliflora Dec. 14th; photo by ALJ
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