Medinilla

Sometimes called Rose Grape, Philipinne Orchid, Pink Lantern plant or Chandelier tree, Medinilla magnifica is small evergreen shrub native to the Philippines where it is usually found growing on trees in tropical forests. However, Medinilla has been grown for hundreds of years as an exotic houseplant, once prized in Belgium by the wealthy and noble. Learn how you, too, can grow this exotic species. Medinilla is a tropical shrub that can grow up to 4 ft. tall. It grows like epiphytic orchids, in holes and crotches of trees. Unlike orchids, though, Medinilla does not feed on the trees it grows from. Medinilla has large succulent green leaves. In late spring to early summer, the plant is covered by drooping clusters of delicate pink flowers that look somewhat like grapes or wisteria flowers. These flowers are what gives the plant all its folk names.