Mikado Plant Care

I recently stumbled upon this rare Brazilian swamp plant called "Mikado" at a local super market. I thought it was one of the most beautiful plants I had ever seen, so I snapped a picture of it, to show to my husband. He liked it so much, we returned to to the super market the next day and purchased the "Mikado"

There was no plant care information card provided, so I began to research the plant myself. My search turned up very little information, so I called a few local greenhouse's in our area. They were able to provide me with the plants technical name, but was unable to tell me much more. Using this, I have gathered as much information possible, and compiled it here in this article, as follows.

The Mikado's technical name is Syngonanthus chrysanthus. It is a strangely elegant and unusual tender plant, native to the swamps of Brazil. It forms a spiked rosette of foliage, from which long, slightly hairy stems grow, each baring a single golden, button flower. The Mikado plant, when content in it's surroundings, can bloom up to 50 weeks out of the year, each bloom lasting about 10 weeks.

The Mikado thrives in temperatures between 19-26 degrees Celsius with a relative humidity of 70%. It's soil must be kept moist at all times, and it is best to water it from the bottom, keeping to it's natural habitat in the swamps. When re-potting the Mikado plant, remember to plant on a mound of dirt, as you do cucumbers and melons in the garden. The Mikado plant is a slow growing plant, and only grows to about 15 inches tall.

The Mikado plant is very much an indoor plant, and prefers bright filtered sunlight, and does well in a shallow clay pot with drainage, or in an uncovered terrarium. Once established in it's ideal environment, the Mikado plant is rather low maintains, requiring only frequent misting with filtered or spring water to keep the humidity level at 70%. It is prone to fungal attack if the humidity is kept to high.

There is no kind of troubleshooting tips available as of yet. The Mikado is rare, and new to the United States market. There is no known treatment for aphids or mites, or browning foliage. Many greenhouse's are raising the Mikado plants not only to make them available to the public for purchase, but to gather this type of information for their customers. If you own a Mikado plant, that has aphids, quarantine it from other plants, to prevent spreading the aphids, until such information becomes available.