# Christia obcordata ‘Butterfly Plant’



## flyangler18 (Oct 26, 2007)

I was browsing the Tropiflora site today, and came across this stunning foliage plant. Has anyone had success with this in the viv? I must say, I've never seen this plant before!


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

Id be interested to know myself as I have thought a couple times about getting this plant.


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## flyangler18 (Oct 26, 2007)

Of course *after *I posted this , I did a quick search  

http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewt ... rfly+plant

I'd like to give it a shot though.


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## Elphaba (Aug 26, 2007)

Hey Jason,

Always wanted to say hi to ya -- now I have a reason. :lol: 

I actually found the same plant on Tropiflora a couple of months ago and ordered a specimen, and it was fairly beaten up when it arrived -- not due to a packing error, but because the plant itself is so dainty. I didn't think it would make it, but I put it in a grow out tank (just wet sphagnum) under a normal CPF bulb and waited. Since then it's come back to life a little, meaning it's given me about five new little leaves, and I think it's going to be okay.

This is a very, very frail plant. I think if even an imitator jumped on it, it would fall over; I'm not sure how well it would do in a viv as a small plant. If allowed to flourish a little outside a viv, though, and then incorporated, it might do all right. I can get a couple of pics of mine, if you like, to show you what I mean by frail. 

All the best,
Ash


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

It's a pretty little bush, but a tinc or terribilis could knock the stems down lol. It was popular for a while when under tissue culture, and likes the conditions of a frog tank, but the frogs can smack it around a bit... it also tends to get leggy and isn't an impressive bush unless you work at it (pinching, rooting cuttings at the base, etc).


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## flyangler18 (Oct 26, 2007)

Thanks for the advice, Ash and Corey.

Ash, glad you said hello 

Maybe I'll give it a shot as a houseplant. Pretty plants shouldn't be so darned hard to grow!


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## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

I have tried this plant many times and have never had any luck at all. I have heard it grows best outsde in the south in the summer as a bush. Good luck with it. It's a beauty.


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## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

Black Jungle had some recently on their web site. I thought about mail-ordering but decided not to risk it (in winter the best anyone can do is deliver to a snowbank 1/2 mile from our house)

By the time I got my butt down there they had sold out.
I'm gonna try it if I see it again...I don't have frogs to trod on it.


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## candm519 (Oct 15, 2006)

These are so incredible and beautiful! I've gotten several at different times, from different sources, all to no avail. They keep me hopeful for a while by growing new leaves on top, but I could never get good root growth in any various media I offered. All eventually died.

It's frustrating because from everything I could find out about it, it should do well for us. We've got the right light, humidity, and 'easy-grow' media.
And I really wanted to grow something that Harry couldn't.

Okay, Fishmommy, it's all up to you now.


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## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

Heck Anne, you can grow lots that I can't seem to keep alive.


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## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

hmm.....well if Anne can't get it to thrive I'm not sure I want to waste my money on trying :!:


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## candm519 (Oct 15, 2006)

Even though my usual rule is 3 failures and I give up, I think we all should all give this plant a--or another--try, and come back here with pictures and results. 

And let's call this "topic expansion": Who grows other members in this family, especially in a terrarium? 

One of my favorites is Firefern, Oxalis hedysariodes rubra. It has tiny leaves of a luscious contrasting deep red color, and yellow buttercup flowers. As a houseplant with some sun it even lends itself to mild bonsai-ing; in my terrariums it loved the extra humidity but got leggy and rarely bloomed. 

I have also tried the 'Silver-and-gold' oxalis under lights (not terrarium) and in a window. It never got happy, but did okay. For a while. I know some people have it in their terrariums--how are you doing?


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## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

this is so funny....I have both those oxalis and they are doing just fine so far. I just got the Rubra a couple weeks ago but have had the Silver/Gold for about a year. The silver/gold likes a lot less light and higher humidity than most of my plants - it grew unhappy in my big orchidarium tank and stopped growing. It started right up again once I moved it to a low-light tank with no air circulation.

I was just about to post a thread about how to propagate Oxalis hedysaroides ‘Rubra’ "Fire Fern". I have some local plant geeks coming over for a cutting swap next weekend and have no idea how to propagate this plant. I'm sure they'll want cuttings but I won't know what to do....
Advice?


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## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

I have no experience with that Oxalis but many of them develop bulbs. I have Silver and Gold growing in very low light and it's doing fine.
Someone gave me a ton of Oxalis bulbs of different kinds and they all came up. Most are leggy at the moment but will do better once I can get them outside this spring.


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## candm519 (Oct 15, 2006)

Firefern is one without bulbs. 
I did my usual thing with cuttings--rootone, perlited-for-lightness soil mix, and of course, my ubiquitous baggie hats. They took a longer time to root than say begonias, but even leafless stem cuttings sometimes grew into plants. In those days I hadn't yet discovered the miracles of clean spaghnum for rooting things, and would experiment with it now for sure.


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## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

ok, I'll go with stem cuttings on the fire fern. I can't wait for it to bloom!

someone is bringing me some night blooming cereus in this plant swap....I'm psyched to try that, though 'wintering' plants is something i have not mastered. I'm sure I can grow it, but not sure I can get it to bloom. Our whole house is 68 degrees all winter, and all our porches etc go waaaaay below freezing.


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## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

Most of the Night blooming epi cactus will overwinter fine inside your house. Give them as much light as you can and they need little water. Once I got mine going they flowered for me every year. I always allowed them to cool down some in the fall. This seemed to help.
I have just recently been trying to restock my epiphytic cactus since the squirrel attack of '05. Scored a nice Lepimium cruciforme spirilis and a Codonanthe devosiana today at Lowes.


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## candm519 (Oct 15, 2006)

Firefern--tips still worked better than stems...

Wow, that sounds like a fun swap!


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## fishmommy (Dec 23, 2006)

I did some tip cuttings yesterday...this plant I got is stringy so I'm going to try to chop it up over time and re-start it so I can keep it bushy.

yeah, the swap should be cool....us eskimos need to do something to pass the long winter up here in the gulag. brrrr. 

I'm getting into the whole hyper-local web community scene, and have found a few like-minded plant addicts right in my area. Thank goodness, since my husband thinks I'm totally nuts.


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