The slowly spreading stems look like fat little top-of-the-soil rhizomes; but the foliage is like nothing else on earth. Perfect pointed ovals seem fashioned of sheerest silk; the skeleton of veins is sunken and strikingly marked. Such daintiness, to be endowed with bristly whiskers! Wee flowers cluster at the top of short upright stems. None of the bertolonias are very large; these are the available miniatures.
maculata—Sheer leaves deep green shading to light, pencilings of silver along the lengthwise veins, wine red beneath.
pubescens—Many veins pucker the leaves like small-scale seersucker. Colors are copper over green, plum purple down the center.
CARE. Partial sun, warmth, humidity, humusy soil kept moist.
PROPAGATION. Stem cuttings (in warmth), seeds.
SPECIAL USES. Artificial light, terrariums.
Boea hygroscopica Gesneriaceae
Six-inch tropical gesneriad with fresh green, quilted leaves and clusters of violet-like flowers campanula-blue, with yellow centers, on willow stems.
CARE. Partial sun, moderate warmth, humidity, humusy soil kept moist.
PROPAGATION. Division of crown, seeds.