''Procris repens'' is a species of
flowering plant in the
nettle family,
Urticaceae, commonly known as the ''watermelon begonia'' or ''sisik naga'',
although the latter name may also refer various ''Pyrrosia'' species.
''P. repens'' is an interesting specimen to demonstrate the metamorphosis of
chloroplasts (outward of cell) to
amyloplasts (inward of cell) if studied with a microscope.
Under its
synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
''Elatostema repens'' it has won the
Royal Horticultural Society's
Award of Garden Merit
The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions.
History
The Award of Garden Merit ...
.
''E. repens'' var. ''pulchrum'' has also won the award. ''Procris repens'' is also commonly referred to as ''Pellionia repens,'' although this name is now regarded as a synonym of ''Procris repens''.
Biology
Description
''P. repens'' is a small herbaceous creeper that can reach 15 cm in height and 60 cm in length. Its leaves have toothed edges and are usually 2.5 to 10 cm in length and 2 to 5 cm in width. Its distinctive leaves have a pattern that resembles
watermelon rinds or the foliage of certain ''
Begonia
''Begonia'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Begoniaceae. The genus contains more than 2,000 different plant species. The Begonias are native to moist subtropical and tropical climates. Some species are commonly grown ind ...
'' species and may fade to completely purple or brown with age.
Distribution
''P. repens'' is distributed over a wide area, from southern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in the north down to
Indonesia in the south. It mainly grows in
primary forests
An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...
in
tropical and
subtropical
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...
climates.
Ecology
''P. repens'' is a food plant for various ''
Hypolimnas'' caterpillars.
References
Urticaceae
Taxa named by João de Loureiro
{{urticaceae-stub