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Fittonia albivenis
Also called Nerveplant, Silver Fittonia, Silver Netleaf, Silver Netplant, Silver Nerve, Silver Threads, Snakeskinplant
In Singapore: White Nerve Plant, Mosaic Plant, Silver Fittonia, Silver Nerve, Silver Threads, Silver-net Plant, Snakeskin Plant, Nerve Plant, 白网纹草, 银网草, 网格草, White Anne Nerve Plant, Dwarf Nerve Plant, Dwarf Silver Fittonia, 小叶白网纹草, White Star Nerve Plant, Red Nerve Plant, Red Mosaic Plant, Painted Net-leaf, 红网纹草, 菲通尼亚草, 费道花 (Grown in Singapore)
Mosaic plant is a low, creeping evergreen perennial from the Amazon rainforest, grown for its dark green leaves with bright white or pink veins. The key to growing it is steady moisture, humid air and protection from cold and dry conditions.
Fittonia albivenis is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae, native to the rainforests of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and northern Brazil. An evergreen perennial, it is notable for its dark green foliage with strongly contrasting white or red veins. It is commonly called nerve plant or mosaic plant. In temperate regions where the temperature falls below 10 °C (50 °F) it must be grown as a houseplant.
The species is used as an ornamental plant that requires fertile soils or substrates based on peat. It is best kept in a moist area with mild sunlight, although it does not demand much light, and temperatures above 55 °F (13 °C). As such, in temperate locations it must be kept under glass as a houseplant.
It must be watered regularly. Without water for a few days, it is known to "faint" but is easily revived with a quick watering and resumes its healthiness. Fittonia albivenis is known to be hard to grow, so it is best bought at a nursery then cared for. Its spreading habit makes it ideal as groundcover.
The Kofan, Siona and Secoya tribes of the Ecuadorian Amazon use F. albivenis as a treatment for headaches, and muscular pain, its leaves were used by the Machiguenga as a hallucinogen before they were introduced to Psychotria viridis. They are said to "produce visions of eyeballs." The leaves of this species are prepared as a tea in the northwestern part of the Amazon region and used for toothache.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Fittonia albivenis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
