Medinilla cumingii, the chandelier tree, is a small epiphytic shrub from mossy forests of Luzon in the Philippines, valued for its drooping pink flower clusters. Grow it warm, humid and in bright filtered light, with evenly moist but well-drained, airy growing media.
Family
Melastomataceae (Melastomat family)
Grows as
Tree, Shrub
Light
Bright indirect, Part shade
Water
Keep the mix evenly moist in the growing season and let the top layer dry slightly between waterings; avoid soggy roots.
Soil
Airy, fast-draining epiphyte mix such as orchid bark with peat or coir and some perlite.
Temperature
18–28 °C; protect below 15 °C
How easy
Moderate
Native range
Philippines (Luzon)
Climate
wet tropical
About
Medinilla cumingii, the chandelier tree, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melastomataceae, native to mossy forest in the Philippines at 700–1,000 m (2,300–3,300 ft) altitude. It is a small shrub, 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) in height, with ternate or quaternate leaves, and many-flowered, pendant panicles up to 25 cm (9.8 in) long. Fruits are 5–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) in diameter, pink to purplish to bluish-black when ripe.
[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 Medinilla cumingii 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.