SA Garden Catalogue: ZZ Plant

ZZ in my garden (CNB 2012)

Scientific name: Zamioculcas zamiifolia
Common name: ZZ plant
Origin: Tanzania

The ZZ plant is 'a rosette herb with fleshy pinnate leaves, and leaf stalks thickly swollen at their bases. The leaflets are glossy, fleshy, and arranged in two rows. This is an excellent indoor plant because of its ability to thrive under shade, but it will grow equally well in the sun on well-drained soil. Plants may be propagated by division of clumps, as well as by leaf and leaflet cuttings'.

I have four containers of this ZZ plant, considered lucky especially as a Chinese New Year decorative indoor plant. But I leave all mine outside where they do thrive well. The very first plant A bought, and grew it indoors at her rented apartment. Later when we moved to Shah Alam, I had it repotted into a bigger container where it now lives. From this plant, I propagated three more from leaf stalk cuttings. They took a long time to grow but are now doing quite well.

The weather this January has been mild, though it did rain sometimes and there are hot days. Usually the days leading to the Lunar New Year are hot but this year less so. The harsh northern hemisphere winter and the North-East monsoon affects us. In fact as reported in the newspapers, Kuala Krai in Kelantan has recently experienced low temperatures of 16-17 degrees Celcius, and Cameron Highlands 12. Brrr...

Ref: Tropical horticulture and gardening/Francis S. P. Ng
(Ex Libris CNB 1866)