Maggie

Red shield plant

Queen of hearts; Homalomena rubescens

• 
  Most light conditions
• 
  Needs some love

• Red shield plant likes...
  • 
    Regular watering

    Check her water weekly and give her a drink if the top two inches of soil are dry. She likes her soil slightly moist.

  • 
    Most light conditions

    She’s a great choice for rooms that don’t get much light as she’s adapted to cope. The one thing she dislikes is harsh sun.

  • 
    Humidity

    Because she’s used to steamy forests, she likes moist air. A good misting every few days is all she needs.

• Quick facts

  Botanical name

  Homalomena rubescens

  Nickname

  Queen of hearts; shield plant

  Air purifying

  Yes

  Plant height

  80-90cm

  Pet/Child friendly

  Toxic if ingested

  Nursery pot size

  24cm

• About Homalomena rubescens

  Mostly found in Southern Asia, homalomena rubescens makes its home on the grounds of lush tropical forests. All those huge leaves on long, deep red stems help it reach out and catch as much sun as it can in the shady forest. In the wild, those leaves can grow over 30cm long.

  Homalomena has been treasured by the Tamil people of India for over 3,000 years. They value it as a medicinal plant and used for many different ailments. We can’t tell you how to make those treatments and it’s probably best you don’t experiment.

  Fending for itself in forests has made it surprisingly tough and it lives happily as a houseplant. It’s used to fairly low light and will make the best of most situations. You can help those red stems and big leaves grow healthily by giving it a feed with liquid fertiliser once per month in spring and summer.

  Did you know?

  The name homalomena roughly translates from Malayan as ‘flat moon’.