KAPA KAPA (Medinilla magnifica)

⚠️IUCN Conservation Status

Endangered

EX EW CR EN VU NT LC DD NE

🌳Names of the Tree

Vernacular Name/s: Rose Grape(General); Rhododendron (Javanese)

Scientific Name: Medinilla magnifica

Family Name: Melastomataceae

📜Details

Average Height: 3m

Timber Classification: N/A

Propagation: Stem cutting

Where to Find: Growing on the limbs of trees in the lowland rain forests of Luzon and Mindoro, it is one of the 80 species of Medinilla found in the Philippines.

Uses: Mainly used for landscaping and indoor plant

Notable Features:

Epiphytic erect shrub which grows to a maximum of 2.5 m tall. Matured leaves are dark green glossy, with leathery texture about 30cm long and 20–25 cm wide. Each leaf has 9–13 nerves which run from the mid rib to the margin or tip of the leaf. Stems are succulent and 4 angled. The weight of its heavy inflorescence causes it to appear drooping. Flowers are small pink to coral red which cluster together in a long dropping panicle and grow like bunches of grapes. Flower clusters are attached to large showy pink bracts. Growing on tropical rainforest trees or on the forest floor in partial shade.

Habit of Matured Tree

Leaf

Phyllotaxy

Some Facts

Kapa-kapa(Rose Grape) has been cultivated since the middle of the 19th century, when it was first collected and formally described, by the English collector J. H. Veitch. In 1854, the Royal Horticultural Society of England bestowed its grand prize on the plant.

The name of the plant comes from the Spanish Governor of the Marianas Islands, Pacific Islands, Medinilla Y Jose Pineda from 1820.

Rob Herwing, a famous writer from the Netherlands called Medinilla as "The Rolls Royce of the houseplants."