Name: Cyrtosperma johnstonii

Description: An aquatic and semi-aquatic aroid that comes from somewhere in Oceania, probably the Solomon Islands. This attractive plant has a surprise: beautifully mottled but wickedly armed leaf stems. The upward pointing arrow-shaped leaves are marked with red veins and the petioles or leaf stems are maroon and brown to charcoal. The prickles are short and in bands or spirals around the stems. This makes a show-stopping pond plant when it reaches its mature size, which may be considered enormous.

Height: 6 to 7 feet.

Light: tolerates bright and filtered or up to a few hours of full sun.

Culture: A fast-growing plant, Cyrtosperma johnstonii can be grown in an aquatic plant mix and placed on a shallow shelf in a pond, or as a bog plant in soil that never dries out. Aquatic food tabs or slow-release pellets will keep it in good color and fine fiddle. This plant will die back when the temperature dips below about 50. Tricky to work with, but worth the effort.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@