Pilea cadierei

Pilea cadierei (or the aluminium plant or watermelon pilea) is a species of flowering plant in the nettle family, Urticaceae. The species is endemic to the southern Chinese provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan, as well as Vietnam. The specific epithet cadierei refers to the 20th-century botanist R.P. Cadière. P. cadierei has earned the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit for its hardiness and reliability as a houseplant. In warmer countries, usually within USDA zones 8–12, the plant may be grown outside year-round as a perennial, either in-ground or contained, and pruned about 50% during the autumn (or whenever blooming concludes).

Description

The aluminum pilea is an evergreen perennial, growing up to 60 cm (24 in) tall and featuring dark-green, oval leaves, with slightly “textured” or “serrated” edges, and with each leaf having four raised silvery patches (hence the name "aluminium plant"). The plant forms subterranean rhizomes to colonize an area. The independent and upright stems are somewhat succulent and may grow woody over time at the base. The stems are mostly featureless, though (along with the stipules, petioles and blades) they have a fine coating of spindle-shaped cystoliths.

The constantly opposing arrangement of the stems and leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The bald petioles are all almost the same length, usually in the range of 7 to 15 millimeters. The simple, dark-green, parchment-like, almost uniformly shaped leaf blades are obovate, with a length of 2.5 to 6 centimeters and a width of 1.5 to 3 centimeters. They have a broad, wedge-shaped or almost rounded blade base and a spiky tip.