Brassaiopsis mitis Seeds | Mitis Brassaiopsis
LATIN NAME: Brassaiopsis mitis
COMMON NAME: Mitis Brassaiopsis
Plant Profile
Brassaiopsis mitis is a spiny Himalayan shrub with palmate leaves up to 60 cm across and a trunk covered in short bristles. It grows in the wet broad-leaved forests of eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and northern Myanmar, between about 1,800 and 2,400 metres, on damp shaded slopes where the air stays humid and the soil is deep leafmould. The plant makes a small tree of four to six metres, usually with a single grey trunk and a crown of enormous, deeply cut leaves divided into seven to twelve narrow lobes. The leaf stalks can be as long as 60 cm and are densely bristly where they join the stem. In late summer it produces a huge panicle, half a metre across, of small creamy flowers in rounded heads, followed by black berries. The whole plant looks tropical and slightly prehistoric, and it is hardy well beyond what its appearance suggests.
Science & Biotechnology
Brassaiopsis mitis belongs to the Araliaceae, the ivy and ginseng family, and its huge palmate leaves are an adaptation to life on the forest floor, where light arrives in short flecks and a large thin blade captures more of it than a small one. The trunk is armed with short prickles, unusual in a family better known for soft-stemmed climbers, and the leaf stalks carry bristles at the point where they attach, which may deter climbing animals. The flowers are borne in umbels arranged along a branching panicle, and the plant is andromonoecious, carrying both male and bisexual flowers on the same individual, a system that guarantees some fruit while still allowing outcrossing. The fruit is a black berry eaten by birds, which disperse the seed into forest gaps. The species is slow to mature and takes several years to reach flowering size, and in cold climates it dies back to the ground and resprouts from a thick rootstock.
Uses & Benefits
The plant is grown as an architectural foliage subject for shade gardens, where its enormous cut leaves provide the sort of scale usually supplied by palms or tree ferns. It is at its best in a sheltered, humid corner with dappled light, and it combines well with ferns, hostas and large-leaved Rodgersia. In mild climates it makes a small understorey tree; in colder ones it is grown in a large pot and moved under cover for winter, or planted out and cut back by frost each year. The young leaf stalks are cooked as a vegetable in parts of the eastern Himalaya, and the pith of the stem is used locally for floats. The plant has no timber value and is not a crop. It is occasionally confused in the trade with Trevesia palmata, which has leathery, hairless leaves and is a different genus.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed in autumn or winter on the surface of a moist, humus-rich mix, covering it lightly, and keep at 15 to 18 degrees; germination is slow and may take two to three months. Keep the seedlings in shade and never let them dry out. Pot them on into a mix of leafmould, loam and grit, and grow them under glass for the first two years. Plant out in a sheltered position with shade for part of the day, in deep, moisture-retentive but drained soil; a dry wind will shred the leaves. Water regularly in summer and mulch with leafmould. The plant tolerates frost to about minus ten, with the leaves cut at minus two, and it regrows from the base in spring. Protect the crown with a deep mulch in cold districts, and cut damaged stems back to the ground in spring.
Our Take
A spiny Himalayan araliad with leaves the size of dinner tables. Slow, shade-loving, and hardy further north than it looks.
Related Reading
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