Callisia Species, Basket Plant, Chain Plant, Inch Plant

Hello everybody! I live in Sweden and I am looking for this plant but can´t find it here. Is there anybody who can send me seeds or a sm...Read Moreall plant? Send me an e-mail if you can to swedienne@hotmail.com so we can make some kind of agreement about how to to it. Regards Maria

A relative of mine calls it Grandfather's Pipe (a much more fitting name than Basket Plant, don't you think!)

A coworker who is from Russia has just passed on some cuttings of this plant to me. She told me several stories of it's medicinal uses in...Read More Russia. Her grandmother has long made elixirs by adding leaves to Vodka and stores them for use. They also milk the sap from leaves and stems. My coworker had been diagnosed several years ago with precancer cells and internal cysts. Her mother gave her an elixir every day for six months. On her next visit to the doctors the cysts were gone as well as the precancer cells.
My friend also gives bits of the leaves to her cat and it has cured it's urinary problems.

Thanks to all who have provided information on this plant. The lady who gave it to me called it Texas Jew and I have never been able to ...Read Morefind it again in Missouri. My friend plants it in an old wheel barrel and I have a broken fountain with a large bowl which sits high on a pedastal and fill it with this plant. The babies drape over the large bowl and look very cool. I'm not a very good propigator but this one even roots for me in water where I keep it all winter in a sunny window and move back outside each summer. Next time I share it will be nice to be able to provide the name and data. You guys are the best!

I just found out today the actual name of this plant!! About 3 years ago, a member of our local garden club brought it to our annual pl...Read Moreant sale. I remembered it immediately as being a plant my grandmother always had around; but I had not seen it for years. No one ever knew the name of it, but now thanks to the DG plant id service, I can now tell everyone what it is!!! I just love this plant. It's so easy to grow and to start new ones. Every year now I have at least 10 hanging baskets of this attention getting plant to donate to our sale....and the customers love it!!!

This is a very old, passalong plant. I grew it commercially in hanging baskets back in the 1990's and never had enough. My retail nurse...Read Morery customers often said it was one of the most unusual plants of this variety they had ever seen. When customers did remember it, it was mostly from a grandmother's garden or some other long-forgotten memory. The flowers smell like honey and last a long time, closing in the evening and opening again during the day. My mother grew it in her garden in zone 8. It died back in winter but always came back in spring. Delightful plant!!

I received a couple of pups of this plant in my very first trade here on DG. This plant has grown fast and produces new little "pups"duri...Read Moreng the summer months! Everything I read stated the flowers were fragrant and I was very disappointed when mine began blooming and I could not detect any fragrance whatsoever. It's been blooming now for a couple of weeks and today when I happened to be out on my deck, I detected a faint sweet fragrance coming from somewhere. Lo and behold, it was the Callisia fragrans! Very nice! Seems the fragrance comes as the blooms age.

This plant is nutritionally beneficial . Russians have been cultivating it for 40-50 yrs and eating as a nutritional supplement and immu...Read Morene boost. I have used it when headaches approach with much success. Chewing the leaves and runners till only fiber remains. Not an unpleasant taste, can be added to salads.

I have been propegating this plant for years not knowing what it is. I lived in Memphis TN and now Tulsa OK. It grows wonderfully indoors...Read More or out in both areas. So glad to finally know what it is called. However I cannot get mine to bloom. I rescued it from a greenhouse where it had been tossed underneath a bench and was spreading like a weed. They were going to throw it out so I salvaged what I could and one piece had remnants of bloom.

How can I get it to bloom again?

Pretty succulent. Too big to look good in a hanging basket. Puts on many runners and new plants. Best to discard the old plant and sta...Read Morert a new one as the old plant gets "tired" looking. Mine bloomed freely but fragrance was a disappointment as were the blooms.

This is a Category II Exotic Pest Plant in central and southern Florida. If you want to grow it, please keep it off the ground in a hang...Read Moreing planter. It almost took over my yard when I first planted it. Fortunately it is fairly easy to pull up. I still haven't gotten rid of all of it. I don't think you can kill it unless you pull it up and throw it in a burn barrel. HaHa.

Very easy to grow, great for a tropical feel around a pool, paito or deck.

Not the necessarily LOVELIEST plant......although, in sun, takes on a lovely purplish tinting/mottling. I simply like plants that propag...Read Moreate themselves--fascinating. This is for someone who loves broms or green foliage houseplants. Now, if/when mine ever blooms, may have to up it to "Positive!"

Nifty plant. Just not a favorite.

I've had this plant for two years now and it's amazing.

DO NOT let it get loose if you are in an area w/o a hard freeze th...Read Moreough.

Here I over-winter small plants, taken from the runners, indoors.

Come Spring place it anywhere a Bromeliad would look good.
(It's not a Brom but you will not be able to tell unless you're up close.)

It creates a very tropical look.
It will root anywhere, brick patio, mid-air, ground,.......if there's moisture or humidity it roots!
I have even tucked it in some compost/sphagnum baskets tied to tree branches for a jungle affect..


By Fall the original plants reach about 24" w/ a 12" spread.
Usually there are a dozen or so 3' runners/plant w/ 3-6 plants/runner.
It will root from every node.

As I said be VERY careful if you're zone 7/8 up!

I have had my plant for a year. It was found on a ditch in Houston, Texas. I love that this plant is all over the place. I love sharin...Read Moreg plants and this one is easy to grow. I haven't had a bloom yet, but I just discovered what this plant was today.

I have had mine for about 2 months.It was given to me by a friend, who also wasnt sure exactly what it was. A month ago, it began to prod...Read Moreuce a flower stalk. It has yet to flower, but it wont be much longer now. Perhaps now that I know what it is, i can care for it a bit better. It appears to thrive on neglect. I will post a pic when it flowers.

I had put in a comment about this plant before but did not have a picture to go with it. I have this plant all over the place. I was to...Read Moreld it was called scottish broom. I do not think that they knew what they were talking about though. This plant never stops putting out runners or new plants. I have put it in the ground this year to see if it would come back, but I will just have to wait. When it is exposed to the sun for any length of time it turns a pale green. But when it is in the dappled shade it produces a light purple to it's leaves. It does appear to look like a bromeliad but does not grow like it at all. I have it for several years and never have seen a bloom on it. It thrives on neglect. In any soil, but looks best in a hanging basket.
nipajo

This plant thrives in hanging containers, continually putting out new shoots on runners that can be separated and planted. Bright sun br...Read Moreings out the best color, but the plant thrives in shade, also. It can be planted directly into the ground in late spring, and by mid-summer will have formed a good groundcover. It dies at a killing frost, however. It is very easy to over-winter.

It is considered to be an invasive alien in some states; but this is only a problem in areas that get little winter chill.