Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Tropical rainforest
Range: Madagascar
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Uncommon

About

A compact houseplant native to Madagascar, prized for its vivid pink, red, or white-splashed leaves — each one uniquely spotted, as if flecked by a paintbrush. The polka-dot patterning is caused by clusters of pigment cells that suppress the surrounding green chlorophyll.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Acanthaceae
Genus: Hypoestes
Species: Hypoestes phyllostachya