Episcia cupreata ‘Pink Brocade’

Wet tropical forest in the Americas

‘Pink Brocade’ is a cultivar of Episcia cupreata, a species native from Nicaragua through northern South America to northern Brazil. Wild plants grow in sheltered places on the floor of wet tropical forest.

On the sheltered forest floor, ‘Pink Brocade’s’ wild relatives experience soft light, warm humid air and soil that stays lightly moist beneath a loose surface layer.

Episcia cupreata ‘Pink Brocade’: warmth and even moisture

• Light: Give bright indirect light and avoid hot midday sun on the velvety leaves.
• Watering: Keep the fine root system evenly moist, allowing only the surface to dry slightly.
• Substrate: Use a light, moisture-retentive mix that remains airy around shallow roots.
• Temperature: Maintain warm conditions, ideally 20–28°C, and avoid temperatures below 16°C.
• Humidity: Higher humidity is helpful, but keep the velvety crown dry and maintain airflow because wet foliage can spot or rot.
• Feeding: Feed every 2–4 weeks while new leaves and stolons are growing.
• Repotting: Use a shallow pot and refresh the mix when roots fill the container or its structure begins to break down.
• Propagation: Set a daughter rosette on lightly moist mix and leave the stolon attached until roots form, then separate it from the parent.
• Winter: Keep the plant warm and reduce watering only if growth clearly slows.

Common problems with Episcia cupreata ‘Pink Brocade’

• A soft crown: Cold, wet conditions can rot the centre of a rosette. Remove soft tissue with a disinfected blade, keep water out of the crown and root a healthy stolon as a backup before the damage spreads.
• Crisp or curled leaf edges: Check the root ball first. Dry substrate calls for a thorough watering, while suitable moisture with damage concentrated beside a heater points to hot, dry airflow. Restore steady moisture or move the plant according to what is visible, without misting the velvety leaves.
• Fine webbing or pale stippling: Inspect the undersides of the velvety leaves with a bright light. Fine webbing and many tiny pale dots indicate spider mites. Isolate the plant and repeat a product labelled for mites as directed, avoiding prolonged wetness in the crown.
• Daughter rosettes failing to root: A stolon cannot root while its node hangs above the substrate or the surface repeatedly dries. Pin a healthy node onto lightly moist mix without burying the daughter crown.

Episcia is non-toxic to cats and dogs

Episcia is regarded as non-toxic to cats and dogs. Eating plant material can still cause mild digestive upset.

A shaded genus with a copper-coloured species name

Episcia comes from Greek episkios, meaning shady. Cupreata means copper-coloured. The species first appeared under Achimenes before moving to Episcia.

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius established Episcia in volume 3 of Nova Genera et Species Plantarum Brasiliensium in 1829. William Jackson Hooker described the basionym Achimenes cupreata in Botanical Magazine in 1847. Johannes von Hanstein transferred it to Episcia in Linnaea in 1866.