EXACUM AFFINE

I bought this big pot of Persian Violet recently and it has been putting out beautiful violet flowers. I have not collected some of the dried seeds for germination though. I must try to do it one of these days.

EXACUM AFFINE

This is a beautiful herbaceous houseplant Persian Violet. It is often treated as an annual or biennual and discarded after the flowering ceases.

When the flowers are pollinated, the seeds can be collected for germination. I did that last time and there were lots of seedlings but I always have no patience with growing seedlings, so in the end, I lost everything.

In its natural habitat, it grows amongst rocks and the ground near rivers in well-drained soils. When grown indoors, it needs to be watered regularly to ensure the leaves and flowers are turgid.

Perhaps I should try growing it in a terrarium and see if I manage to get them to grow big enough. The flowers are bluish purple with yellow stamens, hence the common name. However, there is a less common white flower variety that I only saw in websites. There is also apparently a rarer double-petaled variety. A few links are attached below:

1. http://www.gardening.eu/plants/Apartment-Plants/Exacum-affine/1925/
2. http://www.plantcare.com/encyclopedia/persian-violet-478.aspx
3. http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week251.shtml

EXACUM AFFINE

This is an Exacum affine (Persian's Violet). It is one of the interesting low compact indoor plants that I perpetually love.

I understand my colleague grew this from seeds. His patience really paid off. I collected lots of the seeds before and managed to germinate them. But I hate growing seedlings because they are so delicate that I always end up killing them instead.

Anyway, this is definitely a house plant that can be grown at home. Pinching it frequently would create a more bushy plant. There seems to be a white flower variety that I have yet to see in our local market.

This photo was taken on 18 Dec 09 and the potted plant is currently on display outside HortPark's Lifestyle Corner.