The original Ficus elastica, the rubber plant, is seldom seen today. Although the plants we buy under this name are related to the wild original, they have been bred, crossed, cultivated and so changed by the hybridists and plant breeders that they now demand on the whole greater light than their parents. There are, in fact, variegated forms with paler green and sometimes even golden streaks and blotches that to some give them greater attraction.
So whereas a monstera will grow and flourish in normal home conditions, if it is removed to a greenhouse or conservatory with the same temperature but better light it will almost certainly burst into flower and then fruit.
Another and even simpler example is to be seen in the ivy. There must be tens if not hundreds of thousands of ivy plants of many different types growing in homes in this and other countries, yet none of them ever flower or fruit. But perhaps only a few feet away, outside the house in the better light, climbing over a wall will be a wild ivy, thick' with flowers and fruit.
Perhaps the darkest and toughest leaves of any of the house plants we normally grow appear on the Ficus elastica, the ubiquitous rubber plant, beloved of showrooms and the offices of high-powered executives.
The rubber plant, a member of the fig family, is rightly popular, for it has a strong, architectural shape, is neat and unfussy in appearance, demands little attention, grows well and attractively and, perhaps most important of all, will tolerate a low light intensity.
When you consider its natural habitat, (it came originally from the jungles of South America) perpetually shadowed by the lush growth of trees and vines above from the bright sun, it can be well understood that it normally needs little light.
So whereas a monstera will grow and flourish in normal home conditions, if it is removed to a greenhouse or conservatory with the same temperature but better light it will almost certainly burst into flower and then fruit.
Another and even simpler example is to be seen in the ivy. There must be tens if not hundreds of thousands of ivy plants of many different types growing in homes in this and other countries, yet none of them ever flower or fruit. But perhaps only a few feet away, outside the house in the better light, climbing over a wall will be a wild ivy, thick' with flowers and fruit.
Perhaps the darkest and toughest leaves of any of the house plants we normally grow appear on the Ficus elastica, the ubiquitous rubber plant, beloved of showrooms and the offices of high-powered executives.
The rubber plant, a member of the fig family, is rightly popular, for it has a strong, architectural shape, is neat and unfussy in appearance, demands little attention, grows well and attractively and, perhaps most important of all, will tolerate a low light intensity.
When you consider its natural habitat, (it came originally from the jungles of South America) perpetually shadowed by the lush growth of trees and vines above from the bright sun, it can be well understood that it normally needs little light.
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Indoor garden houseplants prefer slightly different treatment in one way or another.
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