It sulks, it spots, it drops a leaf the week you rearrange the shelf — and then it unfurls something that makes the whole room go quiet.
The form most growers mean when they say verrucosum — emerald blade, pale midrib and lateral veins, wine-red abaxial, and the bristly petiole that gives the species its name. Andean, cool-loving, and happiest scrambling up a damp pole. New leaves can flush bronze before settling into deep green. Reasonably available now from tissue culture, which has dragged prices into sane territory.
The benchmarkThe rest of this story is for subscribers. One Leaf People subscription unlocks every Understory feature and Field Guide — in the app and here on the web.
The Field Guide from Leaf People.