Huperzia

MANILA, Philippines - Huperzias are fern allies that are popular in horticultural trade. All species of Huperzias are of economic value, either as ornamental plant or as source of important pharmaceutical chemicals like Huperzine.

The plants are very attractive as hanging plants, wall decor and have recently been included in the list of preferred plants for high humidity vertical gardens. 

Huperzias are slow growing plants. Plants in the wild need to grow for four to five years to reach the minimum marketable size. It is not uncommon to see 20 year old plants sold for only P250 or lower. Unscrupulous plant traders buy the wild-collected plants for as low as P15 and are selling them directly for at least $5 to $10 in Bangkok and Taiwan; prices for Europe and Australia are higher.

Philippines has 27 listed species but collectors claim that there are still unreported species. Most species are distributed over a wide range while some have very limited reported habitat.

Cultivation

Huperzias are high humidity plants and are mostly epiphytic. A few species are terrestrial. Most grow in the cloud line and will require high humidity for cultivation. Contrary to common belief that Huperzias will grow only in cool weather, they may be grown anywhere in the Philippines provided the roots do not dry out totally.

Established plants may be used in landscapes effectively. Plants fielded out for landscape need their root zones to be constantly moist. Experienced gardeners water only the root areas.

Huperzias grow faster when fertilized. Any high quality complete fertilizer with trace elements may be used provided Calcium and Magnesium are also supplied. Some growers use dried banana peels placed around the root area as organic fertilizer. As the dried banana peel composts, it supplies the root zone with essential nutrients.

Propagation

Huperzias may be propagated easily. Old methods include placing the tips and anchoring the same onto organic media until roots appear and plantlets are severed from the mother plant after a year; another method is to bend the tips using rubber band and the looped portion covered with moss or any organic material. These techniques are cumbersome and not very efficient but nevertheless are very useful in conservation works.

New propagation methods are now available for volume production of Huperzias: one to two inch tips are severed from the mother plants. An average plant may yield from 12 to 60 tips. After the tips are cut, the mother plant will start to form healthy shoots at the base. This will serve as source of future cuttings.

Tips are treated with fungicide and incubated under high humidity. The tips are placed horizontally and will curve up as it grows. Roots are formed at the bent portion in three months time and ma. Be planted out in six months. 

The more common media used are moss, sterilized Asplenium roots, sterilized Osmunda roots or coconut husk chunks. A new technique has been developed by researcher Leslie Kennedy to include moist sand as alternative to organic media for rooting purpose. 

Plants grown from shoot tip cuttings may be sold in 1.5 years from start of propagation.

Conservation

As most Philippine Huperzias are endangered of extinction in the wild, efforts must be made to study how they can survive and how to propagate them the fastest. Without increase in number of plants, there is no conservation to talk about.

New propagation metho-dologies like spore culture and tissue cultures are being done (on Huperzias) worldwide. With established methodologies for propagation, there is no reason for Philippines to send wild-gathered materials abroad. Nursery operators should be encouraged to produce and sell their own propagated materials instead of the wild-gathered plants. This will definitely relieve the pressure to strip our forest of these natural treasures.