Dischidia imbricata

Natural range and habitat of Dischidia imbricata

Dischidia imbricata is native across parts of mainland Southeast Asia and Malesia, the tropical region that includes Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea. It grows as an epiphyte on trunks and branches in warm, wet forest.

Its roots grow among bark and small pockets of trapped debris that are soaked by rain and then drain quickly.

How to care for Dischidia imbricata

• Light: Give bright filtered or indirect light. You can introduce gentle early sun gradually.
• Support: Use cork, bark or another textured surface if you want the leaves to grow flat against it. A hanging pot suits a trailing plant.
• Water: Water thoroughly, then allow the potting mix to become almost dry before watering again.
• Potting mix: Use a loose epiphytic mix with bark and pumice or perlite. Mounted plants need more frequent watering because exposed roots dry faster.
• Temperature: Keep the plant warm, with indoor temperatures above 15 °C.
• Humidity: Higher humidity helps aerial roots develop, especially on a mount. Keep gentle air movement around the stems and leaves.
• Feeding: Feed lightly while new stems and leaves are growing with a balanced houseplant or orchid fertiliser.
• Propagation: Stem cuttings root readily. You can also root an established stem while it is still attached to the parent plant, then cut it free once roots have formed.
• Repotting: Repot when roots fill the container or the potting mix begins to break down and stays wet much longer than before.

Issues to watch for with Dischidia imbricata

• Leaves become thin, wrinkled or pull away from the support: The plant may be drying too much. Water thoroughly and, for mounted plants, check that aerial roots are receiving enough moisture.
• Leaves turn yellow and roots become dark or soft: The roots may be rotting in potting mix that stays too wet. Remove damaged roots and cut any soft dark tissue back to firm healthy tissue with a clean blade. Discard the rotten parts and repot in fresh loose potting mix.
• New stems become thin with wide gaps between leaves: Light may be too low. Move the plant gradually into brighter filtered light; new stems should then develop with shorter gaps between the leaves.
• Aphids, mealybugs or scale appear on stems and leaf joints: Isolate the plant and remove visible pests. Use a treatment labelled for the pest you find, paying particular attention to leaf joints and sheltered parts of the stems when you check the plant again.

Keep Dischidia imbricata away from children and pets

• Keep this plant away from children, cats and dogs.
• Its effects after chewing or swallowing are unclear, and plant material can still cause an upset stomach.
• Contact a veterinarian or medical professional if symptoms develop or do not settle.

What does the name Dischidia imbricata mean?

Dischidia combines Greek dis, meaning twice, with schizein, meaning to split, referring to the divided lobes of the staminal corona. The epithet imbricata means overlapping like roof tiles.

Robert Brown established the genus Dischidia in 1810 in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae, page 461.

Carl Ludwig Blume first described it as Conchophyllum imbricatum in 1827 in Bijdragen tot de Flora van Nederlandsch Indië, page 1061. Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel later placed it in Dischidia as Dischidia imbricata in 1840 in Nomenclator Botanicus, second edition, volume 1, page 519.