Laportea

Plant Characteristics

Origin:	✈	?

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property.
Water:	◍	?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property.

Scientific Names

Read about Laportea in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Laportea (Francois L. de Laporte. entomologist of the nineteenth century). Urticaceae. Perennial herbs, shrubs, or trees, a few species of which are sometimes grown in glasshouses for the showy foliage or fruits. Leaves alternate, often large and variously colored, mostly dentate: flowers monoecious or dioecious, clustered in loose cymes, small and inconspicuous; sterile flowers with a 4-5-parted perianth (or separate sepals), 4 or 5 stamens, and rudiment of an ovary; fertile flowers with 4 sepals or 4-lobed perianth, the 2 outer usually much smaller: fr. an ovate or oblique compressed achene.— Species 40-50, widely scattered, mostly of tropical countries; one L. canadense, reaches to Canada. They are provided with stinging hairs, and must be handled with caution. The horticultural species are prop. by seeds, and also by cuttings started in heat. The generic name Laportea is retained in the "nomina conservanda" of the International Code as against Urticastrum. Three species-forms appear to be best known in culture, as follows: L. Schomburgkii, Bull. Ornamental-lveaved plant (usually known as L.var.versicolor) from Polynesia: leaves large, with fleshy petioles and deciduous herbaceous stipules; blade deep green, with purplish rib and veins, mottled with gray-green and cream-white, sometimes one-half being creamy white. L. gigas, Wedd. Tree, to 80 ft., India to Austral.: leaves broadly cordate-ovate, obtuse or short-acuminate, more or less sinuate-toothed, 10-12 in. or more long. L. moroides, Wedd. Shrub or small tree of Queensland: leaves broadly ovate, 6-8 in. long and nearly as broad, peltate at base, short-acuminate, prominently toothed: fruit mulberry-like, purple, borne beneath the crown of leaves and remaining for nearly a year. A showy greenhouse plant, worthy of attention except for the virulently stinging hairs. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

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Propagation

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Pests and diseases

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Gallery

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Laportea. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Laportea QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)