Begonia elaeagnifolia
A creeping epiphytic begonia of the lowland rain forests of Lower Guinea, mostly in Gabon and Cameroon. Its stems root along trunks, fallen logs and rotting wood beside streams, in swamp forest and even in waterfall spray. The leaves are glossy and somewhat succulent, and the small flowers are white to pink. In cultivation it wants warm, very humid, shaded conditions and a log or slab to climb.
Where it grows wild
Specimen labels are unusually detailed. They describe a 'creeping epiphyte' on tree trunks from just above the ground to 15 m high, on fallen and rotting trunks and dead branches over rivers, 'in deep shade on humid place near creek', in partly flooded and swampy forest on sandy soil, and 'in spray of waterfall'. It also grows on hilltop forest in fog with abundant epiphytic moss. The stems root at the nodes and can reach 1 m.
Mostly from near sea level (13 m) to about 800 m; one record is labelled 1,700 m.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.