This lovely South East Asian species lives up to its nickname of ‘Cast Iron Plant.’ It is especially common growing wild in China and Vietnam. Some sources suggest this is also one of the foliage plants used historically in Japan as a way of separating foods in traditional bento boxes.
This is a species in the notoriously diverse Asparagus family (Asparagaceae). They occasionally produce strange reddish-pink flowers nestled right in the soil at the base of the plant.
Light: Low
This plant will tolerate shadier positions with only a little natural light.
Soil: Indoor Potting Mix
Enjoys moist well drained soil with composted organics and some drainage material.
Growth Rate: Slow
Expect to see quite small amounts of growth over the years.
Water Requirement: Light Watering
Water when several cm of soil depth is dry to the touch. Water must draining easily away.
Humidity: Medium
Easygoing in regular home conditions, keep away from cold draughts and heat sources.
Maintenance: A little
Easy to care for, just keep an eye on any extra environmental needs such as humidity.
Expert Tip
Many people are surprised to hear that Aspidistra can grow remarkably well planted outside in milder areas. They are hardy down to -5C, though understandably they will not retain their usual impeccable neatness as a rugged outdoor specimen!
Care & Size Guidance
This is a notoriously slow growing plant, which is great for smaller spaces or a disinterest in repotting. However with bright indirect light and more attentive watering and feeding they can eventually grow to handsome clumps of 50-60cm or more.
Very quick delivery and a very well packaged plant. Great service, thank you very much.
Julie Gale
8 customer reviews for Aspidistra elatior
Rated 5 out of 5
Excellent quality plants. They arrived carefully packed and I was able to recycle all the packaging.
Erica Geurts (verified owner)–
Rated 5 out of 5
Two beautiful healthy plants arrived well packaged. I just hope I can keep them looking as good as they do on arrival.
Anna Stowe (verified owner)–
Rated 5 out of 5
Plant arrived in perfect control, well watered. Very pleased.
J Flavell (verified owner)–
Rated 5 out of 5
I bought the smallest one and its a very good size. Came well wrapped and is now gracing my hall on the Victorian hall stand.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Excellent quality plants. They arrived carefully packed and I was able to recycle all the packaging.
Erica Geurts (verified owner) –
Two beautiful healthy plants arrived well packaged. I just hope I can keep them looking as good as they do on arrival.
Anna Stowe (verified owner) –
Plant arrived in perfect control, well watered. Very pleased.
J Flavell (verified owner) –
I bought the smallest one and its a very good size. Came well wrapped and is now gracing my hall on the Victorian hall stand.
Louise R. –