#caudex

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 7 April 2026

Growing in a tropical glasshouse were these specimens of Myrmecodia tuberosa (ant plant), this is an epiphytic plant with a swollen, semi-succulent stem (caudex). The swollen stem is made up of cavities that have evolved in its native environment to host colonies of ants. One plant had produced a small white flower directly from the stem which and be followed by a fleshy orange berry.

Jill Raggett

[ayamebird]

お迎えして4年くらい経つアデニウムが咲きました

昔の写真を見返すと当時から太さも相当増してます

[poop-me-a-flower]

I had a question about how Dioscorea elephantipes grows, and I love this guy so much I figured I’d talk about it a bit!

So basically, this plant has a woody swelling at the base that expands via the cracks you see forming on it. It’s kind of like being able to watch a tree grow rings (except that there’s a ring for every time the plant wakes up and grows, which can be multiple times per year). The photo on the left is from a couple months after I was gifted this plant as a seedling in 2021. The part that photosynthesizes is a vine that pops out of the top when the plant is actively growing. Right now mine is dormant, so there’s no vine and it kind of looks like a wooden baseball.

Also, it’s in the yam family. That’s right. This is a yam.

[eunnui]

Plant ID: Dioscorea elephantipes 🐘

[eunnuiphyte]

ID: Stephania erecta 🥔

[kaguma-yururi]

パキポディウム　恵比寿笑

[smallfry-gh0st]

first illustration of 4 for my illustration class final!!

[sillykeiki]

Dioscorea elephantipes

I let her out of the cage because she dropped the leaves 😁

I cannot believe how much this plant has grown since I bought her when she was the size of a pingpong ball.