Chinese money plant, pancake plant, UFO plant, lefse plant, or missionary plant – the pilea peperomioides goes by many, many names. A species of plants in the nettle family, it’s unique to look and renowned for its mounded appearance.
Discovered in 1906, it’s native to the Yunnan Province of China and, as legend has it, it was brought back to Norway in 1945 by Angar Espergren, a missionary who shared cuttings with his friends. The pilea is still most popular in Scandinavia today.
How to care for it:
Whether you’re looking to green up your workspace, or transform your home – the pilea is simple to care for. Relatively small and well suited to potted life, it grows upwards from the crown to around 30cm tall. When it comes to watering your pilea, we suggest once a week, or twice in the warmer months – be sure to let the soil dry out between waterings. The pilea likes lots of indirect sunlight, so position yours near a window, just out of reach of the sun’s rays and rotate it to keep it in good, balanced shape.
Top Floom Tip:
The pilea is easy to propagate, baby plantlets will pop up all around the main plant throughout the year. A few months later – once they’ve developed roots – you’ll be able to lever it out of the pot so that you can pass the pilea on to a friend!
