HYDNOPHYTUM RAMISPINUM

This member of the Rubiaceae family was given this name by Elmer Drew Merrill and Lily May Perry in 1945. It is found in on the island of New Guinea; Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, growing as an epiphyte with lots of water and some sun. The caudex can grow to 28 centimetres in diameter, the entire plant to 40 centimetres or more in height. The flowers are white. The genera name after Greek hydnon meaning 'tuber' and phyton meaning 'plant', after the swollen branches. The species is named for the many thin branched spines on the tuber. Latin; ramo; 'branched' and -spinum; ' spines '.