Bucephalandra pygmaea "Kapit"

This plant became known in the hobby as Bucephalandra sp. “Kapit” and B. motleyana “Kapit”. It comes from the Kapit Division in the south of Sarawak (East Malaysia, island of Borneo) and grows there in dense stands on slate rock at the edges of fast-flowing streams. The plant belongs to the species Bucephalandra pygmaea, which was described in the 19th century by Odoardo Beccari as Microcasia pygmaea and has been distinguished again as a species in its own right since 2012.

Bucephalandra pygmaea “Kapit” has so far been imported only very rarely and is still a great rarity. This particularly pretty Bucephalandra form is relatively small and has very tough leaves, dark green and in part almost black, often with a slightly grey-bluish sheen on the upper side and with a reddish underside. The leaves vary somewhat in shape and colour, are short-stalked, have a straight margin and grow to approx. 1 cm wide. Rhizomes and young leaves are reddish brown. The rhizomes are relatively stocky, grow rather ascending to upright under water and form many side shoots. Traders in part distinguish different “Kapit” variants.

If the main shoot of older, fully grown plants is cut off, particularly dense bushes form, initially with very small leaves. Bucephalandra pygmaea “Kapit” grows and multiplies very slowly. Like all Bucephalandra forms, it attaches itself very firmly to stones with its roots and is best suited in the aquarium as an epiphyte.

- To be continued -