Common names
Candlestick Plant
Purple Vine of Evil
Synonyms
Adenia epigea var. stylosa
Adenia firingalavensis var. stylosa
Origin and Habitat
Ankarana National Park – Northern Madagascar
USDA Hardiness Zone
Zone 12 / 50 °F (10 °C) to 55 °F (+13 °C)
Maximum size
Height: 2 m (6 feet) / Spread: 30cm (1 foot)
Care Tips
Needs to be repotted every 2 years, pots should have generous drainage holes. Vining branches die back in the winter and should be cut back to encourage new branching and to maintain an attractive shape and to ensure caudex habit. To be safe keep it over 50 °F (+10 °C). Can be grown outdoors in frost-free areas. Poisonous.
Expected germination rate
50%
Growth Rate
Slow – Medium
Maintenance
Easy to Medium
Sun Exposure
Full sun to light shade; but while caudex prefers shade, leaves prefer the sun; however, the grower should avoid direct blasting sun in summer.
Watering
Needs frequent watering during growth period but should water sparingly in winter after the branches die back
Soil type and pH
Very porous, well-drained potting medium; prefers a rather acidic soil
Adenia stylosa is a pachycaul shrub or liana that forms a tangle of twisted stems emerging out everywhere from caudex which is exceptionally hard, conical, irregular, bumpy and green. It looks like a mountain-shaped candle with melting wax oozing down. Its width can reach up to 25 or even 30 cm. Vine-like branches can grow up to 1 m or more. It has male and female flowers that grow separately. Flowers are beautiful pale yellow or greenish white and open in tendrils in the spring and summer.
Caudex is spheroid to bottle-shaped, gnarled, very wrinkled, waxy, irregular and can attain a height up to 2 m (generally less than 50 cm) and to 25 or even 30 cm in diameter.
Vine-like stems sprout in the summer and are herbaceous, succulent, up to 3.5 m in length, and straggle, trail, creep or climb into the adjacent vegetation while supporting themselves with tendrils.
Leaves of A. stylosa are heart-shaped or bell-shaped, dark green in color that varies between individuals and have dark red veins.
Adenia stylosa is a wonderful pot plant and should make an attractive addition to your collection. In frost-free climates, it can be grown outdoors where it forms an impenetrable shrub if not manicured. Moderate doses of a well-balanced, slow-release fertilizer are beneficial for this plant.
NOTE: Like all Adenias, all parts of A. stylosa are very toxic and should be handled with extreme care, especially while pruning.
The bark of the plant is toxic, but is used to treat scabies.
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