I would urge all of you Hoya lovers out there to pick up at least one or two Dischidia to try, as they are in the same family as Hoyas, and can be something a little different to fool around with.

I’m trying to move away from growing mounted Dischidia as it is quite a lot of work.  I have to fully immerse the mounted specimen every day or two into a nutrient solution to hydrate the plant, which can get pretty old in a hurry.

I grow Dischidia hirsuta like many of my other Dischidia – mounted on a moss covered section of tubing.

Dischidia hirsuta was presumed extinct in Singapore until its rediscovery in May of 2011. It is considered critically endangered.

There are morphological variations of Dischidia hirsuta across its rather large distribution range. There is a wonderful photo and online article on the plant that can be found here: Gardens Bulletin Singapore I would urge all of you that are interested in Dischidia to read it.

I guess that we will take a break from Hoyas for a few days to talk about a close cousin – Dischidia hirsuta.

Here is my favorite photo of Dischidia milnei.  It only took about 2 hours of messing around to get it.  These flowers are very small, topping out at about 3/16″.  I thought everyone realized just how small these flowers were, but after selling a couple of Dischidia on Ebay over the summer, I was criticized for not telling the buyer how small the flowers were.  They were disappointed! I don’t know about you, but before I buy a plant, I generally look it up and find out about it before buying, but I guess everyone is different.

Growing Dischidia milnei is not that difficult, but does require almost daily attention.  I grow the plant mounted on a sphagnum moss covered tube.  I need to submerge the plant daily to ensure that it receives enough water.  It no longer works to spray the plant as the leaves have ‘shingled’ the tube and repels any attempt to wet it by misting or spraying.  If I can keep it looking good throughout the rest of the winter, I will sell it in the spring as I simply don’t have the time to give it a daily soaking any longer.

The common name for Dischidia milnei is Rain of Coins, which I really like quite a bit.

While Dischidia milnei is closely related to Dischidia collyris, I find the plants to be quite different.  The leaves of Dischidia milnei are much larger and a very light gray/green.  The leaves of Dischidia collyris are very dark green and smaller.  The flowers are very similar.

Dischidia milnei

Dischidia collyris