Homalomena Emerald Gem

Emerald Gem is an aroid, related to philodendrons and anthuriums, that grows from a short rhizome as a slowly widening clump, neither climbing nor trailing. Thick, glossy, arrowhead leaves on short upright stalks give it a solid, low outline that holds its shape without staking. The green is very dark with a satin sheen across the leaf surface. It is grown almost entirely as an indoor pot plant for a bench, shelf or side table, where the leaves sit near eye level and read as one mass of foliage.

Keeping an aroid happy in an Australian house

This is a tropical understorey plant, and indoors the two things that matter are air and water. Dry air from a heater, a reverse cycle vent or a hot western window produces brown, papery leaf edges that never recolour, so keep it away from vents and off hot glass. Group it with other plants or stand the pot on a tray of damp pebbles if your rooms run dry. Pot it into a chunky aroid mix of bark, perlite and some coir rather than a dense potting soil, and use a pot only a little wider than the root mass. The failure mode is rot, and it is nearly always caused by one habit: leaving the pot standing in a saucer of water. The rhizome softens, the stalks collapse at the base and the plant is gone before the leaves look bad. Water thoroughly, let the mix drain right through, tip the saucer out, then wait until the top few centimetres are dry again. Outdoors it is only an option in frost free tropical and subtropical gardens, in a sheltered pocket under canopy.

A low pot plant against a tall one

If you are filling an interior corner rather than a bench, Pinanga kuhlii is the alternative here: a clumping palm that gives you height and a fine canopy, but wants a much bigger pot, more humidity and a lot more floor space. Homalomena works where the palm cannot, on a desk, a kitchen bench or a low shelf, where a compact mass of dark foliage at close range does more than a thin canopy overhead. Growing both, the palm sets the ceiling and the Homalomena furnishes the surfaces underneath. In a genuinely tropical courtyard, Cryosophila warscewiczii is the outdoor version of the same understorey idea. Both plants dislike exactly the same thing, a pot left standing in water, so neither belongs in a decorative cachepot unless somebody checks it after every watering.

Grooming the leaves and a light feeding routine

There is no shaping to do. Remove whole leaves at the base of the stalk with a clean blade as they yellow, rather than trimming brown edges into odd shapes, and wear gloves, because the sap carries calcium oxalate and irritates skin and mouths. Keep trimmings away from children and pets. Wipe the leaves with a damp cloth instead of misting, which does little for humidity and encourages spotting. Feed with a dilute liquid fertiliser monthly through the warm months and stop entirely over winter. Brown edges paired with a white crust on the mix mean fertiliser salts have built up, so flush the pot through with plain water.

Choosing a size

This plant is supplied in one size, 180mm, at $24.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to when to plant in Australia.