Green and hairy, the huperzia is a real delight

With the huge wave of new tropical plant introductions flooding the trade right now, it's probably the most exciting time in a century to be a tropical plant collector. inside. I wonder if that's what it was like to be head gardener of a large estate in Victorian England, when plant hunters sent back a flurry of new introductions from around the world that had never been seen in Britain before. In the early years of the recent houseplant revival, many "new" plants were actually just 1970s staples making a long overdue comeback, but suddenly there seem to be dozens genuine 'new' species, or even entire genera, entering the UK market for the first time. There are dozens to choose from, but it's hard to find one more weird and wonderful than huperzia.

I've seen these plants first seen at a roadside stall high in the mountains of rural Borneo in the early 2000s. Rapunzel-like cascades of what looked like fluffy green pipe cleaners sprouted upside down all straight out of the bottom of the hanging wire baskets. Appropriate cartoon Martian stuff. One of the earliest forms of land plants, the huperzia has a wonderfully primitive growth pattern called bifurcation, where its tips literally split in two, giving its branches a forked “Y” shape. The interesting thing is that this is not just the case in the parts above ground, as even the white, skinny roots are a fuzzy mass of forks.

Adapted to grow high in the canopies of rainforest trees, clinging to moss-covered branches, they are perfect candidates for growing in shady east- or west-facing windows, where they will withstand intermittent watering and forgetful fertilization. I had thought they would insist on the sky-high humidity only possible in terrarium cultivation, but I am slowly discovering that nothing could be further from the truth. They will live very happily in everyday apartment conditions in pots of pure sphagnum moss and will only need water once a fortnight. In fact, much like staghorn ferns, they positively prefer to dry out between waterings.

My favorite of all is Huperzia squarrosa, which has irresistibly tactile locks of emerald green, Muppety fuzz. A new cultivar called 'Patto' has sturdier, densely leafy branches that give it an even more mammalian appearance. H nummulariifolia trades hairiness for shiny chains of small dark green discs, like a curtain of botanical pearls. Hgoebelii is different again, with spiky rains of silver-blue leaves, like an exotic weeping conifer. I can't tell you how hard it was to pick just three, considering the dozen amazing species now roaming around.

Being Relatively recently introduced, huperzias may require online sleuthing to track them down at a handful of independent UK nurseries selling them on auction sites, but it's worth the effort. They are true wonders of the botanical world that previous generations of indoor gardeners could only dream of growing.

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