Medinilla magnifica

Possibly the Most Spectacular Flowering Plant in the Tropics

There are plants that impress, and then there is Medinilla magnifica. The Showy Medinilla earns every syllable of that name — the pendulous flower clusters, each up to 50cm long, cascade from the stems in a display of soft pink bracts and jewel-like flowers that looks less like something growing in a garden and more like something hanging in a botanical illustration. It is, by any reasonable measure, one of the most extraordinary flowering plants you can grow in the wet tropics.

Native to the Philippines, where it grows epiphytically in the humid rainforest canopy, Medinilla magnifica flowers through spring and summer, with blooms lasting up to three months — and in truly ideal conditions it will flower more than once in a year. Between flowering seasons the large, glossy, dark green leaves hold their own as a bold foliage plant, making this a plant of genuine year-round ornamental value.

In the Wet Tropics

Outdoors in the wet tropics, Medinilla magnifica comes into its own in a way that indoor and greenhouse growers can only approximate. The natural heat and humidity of the Cassowary Coast provides exactly the conditions it grew up in, and planted in a sheltered position — a narrow garden bed against a shaded wall, or a large pot on a protected verandah — it will build into something genuinely breathtaking. The pendulous flower clusters need space to hang freely, which makes positioning worth thinking about before planting.

A Note on Stock and Ordering

Medinilla magnifica is significantly more difficult to propagate than other medinilla species, which is why it is so rarely offered and why our stock is always limited. You are purchasing a small propagation in a 100ml pot. We do not take advance orders — if this plant is currently out of stock, please use the Notify Me function and we will contact you when it is available again.

Please read our Medinilla magnifica Care Guide before ordering.