Pilea cadierei
The aluminium plant is a soft-stemmed, rhizomatous nettle-family perennial up to about 60 cm tall, with quilted dark leaves splashed with silver. It is native to southern China (Guizhou and Yunnan) and Vietnam, and it is naturalised widely in the tropics. As a warm, shade-loving understorey plant, it does best in bright shade with even moisture and high humidity, which suits a large terrarium or a humid room.
Where it grows wild
Wild habitat is poorly documented in the sources consulted. Wikipedia gives only the range. Most GBIF records from China come from cities such as Chengdu and Chongqing, where the plant is widely grown, and are likely to be garden escapes rather than wild populations. Like most Pilea, it probably grows as a ground-layer herb in moist, shaded forest, often on limestone in southern China and northern Vietnam, spreading by rhizomes.
Only five records carry an elevation, at 196–1,457 m with a median of 320 m. They are mostly urban sites, so they say little about the wild elevation range.
🔒 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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More Pilea
Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.