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Species library › Columnea › Columnea crassifolia
Other Partly documented

Columnea crassifolia

An epiphytic gesneriad from southern Mexico and northern Central America, with upright to arching stems, narrow thick leaves and large, hairy red-orange tubular flowers. Wild records come from wet evergreen forest, mostly on the Pacific slopes of Chiapas and Guatemala between about 1000 and 1600 m. It is one of the tougher columneas in cultivation: warm, bright and humid, with a free-draining epiphyte mix.

Columnea crassifolia
Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets 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 on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

Grows as an epiphyte on trees in humid evergreen forest (herbarium labels give 'bosque tropical perennifolio'). Most wild records are from the coffee and cloud forest belt on the Pacific slopes of the Sierra Madre in Chiapas and western Guatemala.

Mexican specimens are from about 1090–1600 m and Guatemalan observations reach about 1800 m. A few records are from near sea level; see data notes.

Mexico: SoutheastMexico: GulfGuatemalaHonduras

🔒 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

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More Columnea

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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 Public domain licence, unmodified.