Species library › Biophytum › Biophytum sensitivum
Terrarium Partly documented

Biophytum sensitivum

Little tree plant

A small herb of the wood-sorrel family that looks like a miniature palm: a single upright stem topped by a rosette of pinnate leaves that fold up when touched. It is a common weed of moist, disturbed ground across tropical Asia, from India and Nepal through Southeast Asia to Taiwan and the Philippines, and also occurs in tropical Africa and Madagascar. In terrariums it is short-lived but self-sows readily from its explosively dispersed seed; spider mites are its main problem.

Biophytum sensitivum
Photo: Praveenp, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

A common weed of damp, disturbed places: roadsides, field edges, grassland, plantations and open forest floors, often in partial shade, where it grows fast during the rains.

The GBIF records with elevations are all lowland (median about 70 m, maximum about 500 m), but only 22 of more than 2000 records carry an elevation; it is likely to reach higher into the foothills.

IndiaSri LankaNepalSouthern ChinaTaiwanIndochinaMalesiaPhilippinesTropical AfricaMadagascar

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Biophytum sensitivum? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

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.