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Species library › Streptocarpus › Streptocarpus saxorum
Succulents Well documented

Streptocarpus saxorum

The false African violet. It is a trailing, evergreen gesneriad from the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and southeastern Kenya, with small, fuzzy, semi-succulent leaves and pale lilac flowers almost all year. It grows on shaded rocks: bright shade, warm temperatures and a well-drained mix suit it, and it handles brief drying better than most gesneriads.

Streptocarpus saxorum
Photo: Avi1111 dr. avishai teicher, CC BY-SA 3.0, 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 rock (lithophyte)

Where it grows wild

It grows on shaded rock faces and boulders in forest and along streams in the Eastern Arc and coastal hills, rooting in thin pockets of humus. The semi-succulent leaves help it through short dry spells.

Recorded from 500 to 2124 m, median about 1160 m. Most records come from the Nguru, Usambara and Taita hills.

TanzaniaKenya

🔒 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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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.