'' Aphelandra squarrosa'', commonly (if not ambiguously) called "zebra plant", is a small- to medium-sized tropical shrub in the ''Acanthus'' family

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epiphytes. Only a few species are distributed in te ...

. It is a part of the overall

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...

of eastern coastal

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. ''Aphelandra'' is often sold for use as a decorative

house plant A houseplant, sometimes known as a pot plant, potted plant, or an indoor plant, is an ornamental plant that is grown indoors. As such, they are found in places like residences and offices, mainly for decorative purposes. Common houseplants are us ...

. This plant species is cited in

Flora Brasiliensis ''Flora Brasiliensis'' is a book published between 1840 and 1906 by the editors Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, August Wilhelm Eichler, Ignatz Urban and many others. It contains taxonomic treatments of 22,767 species, mostly Brazilian angiosper ...

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius Carl Friedrich Philipp (Karl Friedrich Philipp) von Martius (17 April 1794 – 13 December 1868) was a German botanist and explorer. Life Martius was born at Erlangen, the son of Prof Ernst Wilhelm Martius, court apothecary. He graduated PhD f ...

Plant care

This plant flourishes in abundant, but not direct, bright light. Reflected light is beneficial as well. It does not bloom often, but it can be encouraged to bloom by prolonged daily exposure to light. It is also very sensitive to moisture content - too much or too little water will cause the biggest leaves to wilt and fall off. It likes to be kept moist, but not wet. Drainage of the substrate is equally as important as moisture retention. On average, it needs frequent, small amounts of water, as opposed to an occasional, thorough watering. This makes ''A. squarrosa'' an ideal candidate for growing in

hydroponic Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture which involves growing plants, usually crops or medicinal plants, without soil, by using water-based mineral nutrient solutions in aqueous solvents. Terrestrial or aquatic plan ...

or semi-hydroponic setups; for example, in a substrate such as LECA (lightweight expanded clay aggregate, also known as hydroton), there will be reliably consistent moisture and nutrients available to the plant, with the porous LECA's capillary action delivering sufficiently to the roots. The plant flourishes when the temperature is in the range of 18-21 °C (65-70 °F); and will suffer if the temperature drops below 15 °C (60 °F) for prolonged periods.

References

External links

Michigan State University Extension: ''Aphelandra squarrosa''

Flora Brasiliensis: ''Aphelandra squarrosa''
squarrosa Endemic flora of Brazil Flora of the Atlantic Forest House plants {{Acanthaceae-stub