Marcgravia serrae
Marcgravia serrae, described by de Roon in 1969, is a cloud-forest root-climbing vine of the Costa Rican and Panamanian highlands, most often collected between 1400 and 2000 m in the Talamanca and Tilaran ranges and around Chiriqui. Wild days are only 19-22 C and nights 13-15 C in near-constant mist, so it belongs in a cool, wet terrarium rather than a heated one.
Where it grows wild
Montane cloud forest, climbing moss-laden trunks and branches in deep shade under persistent cloud. 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 425-2313 m with a median of 1700 m; it is a highland species.
🔒 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.