Labisia pumila

Natural range and habitat of Labisia pumila

Labisia pumila occurs naturally from mainland Southeast Asia through Malaysia and Indonesia to New Guinea.

It grows in humid evergreen forest, thickets and moist ground along streams, often under heavy shade in humus-rich soil and leaf litter.

Care for Labisia pumila

• Watering: Water before the mix dries through. Keep it evenly moist and allow excess water to drain freely.
• Potting mix and roots: Use a loose, humus-rich mix with fine bark, pumice or another coarse material. Repot when the mix becomes dense or drains slowly, and handle the fine roots gently.
• Light: Give filtered light or bright shade.
• Humidity: Aim for a humid 60–80% range, paired with gentle circulation around the foliage.
• Temperature: Keep temperatures around 20–28 °C. Avoid prolonged temperatures below 15 °C.
• Feeding: Apply a weak balanced fertiliser during growth.
• Propagation: Propagate from seed or stem cuttings. Keep fresh cuttings warm and humid while roots develop.

Common issues with Labisia pumila

• The mix stays wet for a long time and new growth stalls: Old dense mix may be holding too much water around the fine roots. Check the roots and repot if the mix has become compacted or drains slowly.
• Leaves turn yellow and soft while the mix stays wet: Dense wet mix or damaged roots may be stressing the plant. Inspect the roots, cut rot back to firm healthy tissue with a clean tool, discard the rotten material and repot into fresh loose mix.
• Leaf margins become crisp and brown: Irregular watering, dry air or mineral buildup may be drying the edges. Restore even moisture, raise humidity if the air is dry, and flush the mix if residue has collected.
• Exposed leaves develop pale or scorched patches: The foliage has received too much direct sun. Move the plant into filtered light.

Keep Labisia pumila 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.

Where does the name Labisia pumila come from?

Labisia comes from Greek labis, “spoon”, referring to the spoon-like lobes of the flower. Pumila is Latin for “dwarf”, “small” or “low-growing”.

John Lindley established the genus Labisia in 1845 in Edwards’s Botanical Register, volume 31, plate 48.

Carl Ludwig Blume first described it as Ardisia pumila in 1823 in Catalogus, page 44. Celestino Fernández-Villar later placed it in Labisia as Labisia pumila in 1880 in Flora de Filipinas, third edition, volume 4, issue 13A, page 123; George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker had proposed the name.