''Tolmiea menziesii'' () is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the family

Saxifragaceae Saxifragaceae is a family of herbaceous perennial flowering plants, within the core eudicot order Saxifragales. The taxonomy of the family has been greatly revised and the scope much reduced in the era of molecular phylogenetic analysis. The f ...

. It is known by the common names youth on age, pick-a-back-plant, piggyback plant, and thousand mothers. It is a perennial plant native to the West Coast of North America, occurring in northern California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and southern Alaska. It occurs as a naturalised plant or garden escapee in Scotland, parts of Wales, Northern Ireland and northern and western parts of England.

Description

''Tolmiea menziesii'' has hairy, five to seven-lobed, toothed leaves and a capsule fruit containing spiny seeds It bears many small flowers in a loose raceme. Each flower consists of a tubular purple-green to brown-green calyx and four linear or subulate (awl-shaped) red-brown petals, about twice the length of the sepals. It has unusual reproductive habits. It grows plantlets from the petiole near the base of each leaf. The plantlets drop off, fall in the soil, and take root there. It will also reproduce by

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s and by seeds. Tolmiea menziesii

Taxonomy

The genus was named after the Scottish-Canadian botanist

William Fraser Tolmie William Fraser Tolmie ( "Dr. Tolmie") (February 3, 1812 – December 8, 1886) was a surgeon, fur trader, scientist, and politician. He was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1812, and by 1833 moved to the Pacific Northwest in the service of ...

, while the species name refers to

Archibald Menzies Archibald Menzies ( ; 15 March 1754 – 15 February 1842) was a Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist. He spent many years at sea, serving with the Royal Navy, private merchants, and the Vancouver Expedition. He was the first recorded Euro ...

, the Scottish naturalist for the

Vancouver Expedition The Vancouver Expedition (1791–1795) was a four-and-a-half-year voyage of exploration and diplomacy, commanded by Captain George Vancouver of the Royal Navy. The British expedition circumnavigated the globe and made contact with five continen ...

(1791–1795). The plant was formerly considered to be the only member of a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus until diploid populations (due to

autopolyploidy Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei ( eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contain ...

) were split off as a separate species ''T. diplomenziesii'' from the tetraploid populations.

Cultivation

''Tolmiea menziesii'' is commonly cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

, for use as a

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 ...

or planted as a

groundcover Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows over an area of ground. Groundcover provides protection of the topsoil from erosion and drought. In an ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as t ...

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

s.Las Pilitas Horticulture database: ''Tolmiea menziesii'' (Piggyback plant)
/ref> It requires moisture and does not tolerate much sun or dryness.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Tolmiea menziesii''Video and commentary on ''T. menziesii'' in the wild.
Saxifragaceae Flora of the West Coast of the United States Flora of Alaska Flora of British Columbia Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of Washington (state) Flora of the Klamath Mountains Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Garden plants of North America House plants Groundcovers Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Saxifragaceae-stub