Wow! Dischidia vidalii is now on my want list. Is it in bloom very often?

When I first got rusciflora I was not sure if I was going to like it.Its mounted on a chunk of coir and bit of a mess to water.But the first time it flowered for me I fell in love with its cute tiny flowers.
Nice photos of both of yours.I have been keeping my eye open for D vidalii.I did have one for about a month before I killed it.

Cindy

D. vidalii is a regular bloomer, although this is probably the most blooms it's had at one time!

I have some seed (see bottom of the second picture) if you guys want to try it! I've successfully sprouted seed from it twice...but haven't had luck beyond seedlings. Send me your addresses if you'd like some seed.

Did have a beautiful full plant of this at one point, but it did not do well. This little guy in the shell has just thrived! Have it in a $3 Goodwill betta aquarium with the ruscifolia, hirsuta, platyphllya (spelling?) and H. imbricata.

Cindy, I was the same way with ruscifolia! It came free with a plant order. Initially I hung it in the bathroom and sort of forgot about it until the first time it bloomed. It's a charming little plant!

Beautiful! I'm so grateful for the Dischidia growers in this forum. I have a feeling they're going to be my big spring indulgence.

Very cool! I keep waiting for the Lowes here to get some in -- been years since I last saw such there.

Does the ruscifolia also get the puffy leaves?

Nice plants! I have to admit that I find many of the Dischidias harder to grow than most of my Hoyas. I find them more sensitive to moisture although I do have several that are easy growers.

Mike

Amen to some dischidia's being more difficult to grow than hoyas.... Vidalii and hirsuta are definitley sensitive to moisture. Mounted and in a terrarium thingy seem to work well for them!

Paul, I don't know a lot about dischidias but I think just vidalii and major (?) have the puffy ant-scapes.

GG - never wanted to venture into dischidias until the "free" ruscifolia bloomed with severe neglect!

How big is that leaf in the 2nd picture? It looks huge in comparison to the others. Is that the oldest leaf and will it get much bigger? The texture is amazing on that one.

TY4Sharing
-David

David,
This is one of the ant plant dischidia that forms big, puffy pockets. In the wild the ants bring in all sorts of debris for a nest, but also serves to provide the plants nutrients! The puffy pockets are HUGE in comparison to the leaves!

Just thought I'd post an update on the seeds that Kelly sent me from her D. vidalii above. I just planted them 6 months ago and they're already producing seed pods of their own. These things are fast!

Plant mounted on cork bark in my greenhouse:

Close-up of seed pods:

This species seems much more willing to produce pocket leaves than my D. major, which has only produced regular leaves so far. It also blooms like crazy, but most of the flowers have dropped off now. There may be some more seed pods on the way, but I can't tell yet.

Is anyone else having luck with Dischidias?

I don't believe D. vidalii is a valid name, I will check on this. There was a description of a small leafed dischidia that made occasional bullate leaves in the texts (way back), and the name precedes the later D. vidalii.

Hi Penfold...I'm not a dischidia person (I only have the watermelon type Ovata?) one but I have to say yours is doing really GREAT!! those leaves are very cool looking and the buds are really cute. Congrats...Great job!! Thanks for the update...

Wow they look great, and beautiful photos! Kellie

Thanks guys!

RFG, The only other name for this one that I'm aware of is D. pectenoides (frequently misspelled as pectinoides), and I had heard somewhere that that was not the correct name. But maybe I have it backwards? The IPNI shows D. pectenoides as the earlier published name.

The problem is that there is no D. pectenoides specimen anywhere, but a D. pectenoides has been published and unless the actual specimen can be located the name cannot be valid. I would guess the name is an anagram of "valid" as I do not know of any collectors named Vidal.

Wow, those are doing so great for you, Pen! What a joyful sight to see. Thanks for the update!

Love the discussion of the ID, too. Anagram for valid?! @_@