Reminds me of something

[corydoras]

Definitely an Arum (lily) but there are thousands out there. Leaf shape, habit and where/when it was growing would be useful...definitely not native though!

Just to be pedantic, I didn't think that Arums were true lillies?

[John S]

Oh I expected poor soils but not for it to be dry and sunny - a dark and dingy wet forrest seems a more appropriiate setting.

 

That's what I thought before I started looking into them in more detail and deciding to go the whole hog - before that I just used to grow the Venus Fly Trap.

 

Many of them will not survive in the UK unless kept in a greenhouse with maximum sunlight all (or nearly all) day. Some of them need extra heat (in the winter especially) and humidity which means expensive misters and a very good greenhouse heater - I don't grow those.... Others (like the one in the second picture I posted) need good, but not direct, sunlight, and misting several times a day, whilst some species can be grown outside in a bog-garden all the year round.

 

Poor soil is a must for them all. I use an environmentally friendly spagmum moss peat for mine, mixed with sand/perlite or both depending on the species. Using a normal compost will just kill them. What bugs me is when I see them for sale in DIY stores with minimal growing instructions. I know that if they are bought by a complete novice, they will almost certainly die.

 

Most of them are not particularly hard to grow (some are very difficult, if not impossible). Like all plants, you just have to provide the right conditions.