Gardening with Wilson

In Singapore, we are familiar with the oyster plant as it both a popular ornamental and medicinal plant. It is quite a common sight in our local wet markets to see bundles of leaves of this plant being sold. They are boiled in water and believed to have “cooling”  properties. Some people grow it in their home gardens too and is popular among the Chinese where you can spot several pots of this plant being grown along the corridor in our highrise apartments.

The oyster plant is also a common landscape plant. The succulent, sword-like leaves are green on top and purple underneath and are arranged around a rosette pattern. The latter colour adds interest and contrast to a largely green landscape of plants. The oyster plant likes to be grown in shade and it must have good drainage at its roots, otherwise it is liable to rot. Don’t be surprised to see the plant falling apart when it is grown in waterlogged areas.

It has another interesting English name ’Moses in a Cradle’ which arises from the small white three-petaled flowers (Moses) are produced within the boat-shaped purple bracts (the cradle) nestled between the leaf axils.

All along, I have regarded this plant as a terrestrial as we often see it being potted up or grown in the soil. I was surprised to see a couple of plants growing on the trunk of an old rain tree (Samanea saman) located within the grounds of my university. I am pretty sure that the oyster plants that are perching on the trunk did not climb up on their own. Someone must have mounted them up there. The attempt has been successful as these oyster plants, which have adopted an epiphtyic growth habit on the trunk, surely look happy and healthy.

Whatever the case, this epiphytic colony of oyster plants looks kind of odd since I am so accustomed to seeing them being planted in the ground. But come to think of it again, it can be regarded as another a unique way of displaying oyster plants. Time to think out of the box!!!

The rain tree trunk that has some oyster plants growing on it.

Close-up of the colony of epiphytic oyster plants.