Marcgravia purpurea
Marcgravia purpurea is a lowland root-climbing vine of the Guianas and the Venezuelan and Brazilian Amazon, described by Bailey in 1922 and named for its purplish flowers. It climbs trunks in hot, humid rainforest from sea level to about 1500 m, and wants a warm, sealed terrarium with a permanently damp wall.
Where it grows wild
Lowland evergreen rainforest of the Guiana Shield, climbing trunks in the shade of a closed canopy. Like the rest of the genus it is a root-climbing hemiepiphytic vine with two shoot forms: juvenile climbing shoots press small shingle leaves flat to bark or rock, and only mature free-hanging shoots carry the larger leaves and the pendent umbel with nectar-cup bracts. Growers keep it in the juvenile shingling stage on a damp vertical surface.
Records span 0-1508 m with a median of 240 m; it is mainly a lowland plant.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
Grow Marcgravia purpurea? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.
More Marcgravia
Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.