Sunday, September 18, 2011

Rumble Among the Jungle: final contestants list

Here are the 128 plants who will be competing in the Rumble Among the Jungle. I regret that I was unable to include everybody's suggestions (really I do), but I included some. (A lot of which ones made it and which didn't had to do with photo availability.)

I've already decided the matchups, so at this point all we're waiting for is 1) the creation and posting of the actual polls and 2) some slightly more representative photos than what the nominations post used.1 So it'll still be a few days.

I have my guesses as to which plants will wind up in the later rounds, but I don't want to influence the results, so I'll keep my opinions to myself. (If you really want to know, you can e-mail and ask me.) I'm not unhappy with the one I think will win, though I don't especially like most of the plants that I think will make it to the quarterfinals.

Feel free to use the comments to tell everybody which plant you think will win, or which one you want to win, or whatever.

1. Adenium obesum (desert rose)
2. Aechmea fasciata (silver vase plant)
3. Aeonium spp./cvv.
4. Aeschynanthus lobbianus / radicans (lipstick plant)
5. Agave spp.
6. Aglaonema cvv. (chinese evergreens)
7. Alocasia amazonica 'Polly' (african mask plant)
8. Aloe vera (medicinal aloe, burn plant)
9. Anthurium cvv. (flowering anthuriums, not foliage anthuriums)
10. Aphelandra squarrosa (zebra plant)
11. Araucaria heterophylla (norfolk island pine)
12. Ardisia crenata (coral berry)
13. Asparagus spp. (asparagus fern)
14. Asplenium nidus / antiquum (bird's-nest fern)
15. Austrocylindropuntia subulata monstrose (Eve's needle)
16. Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail palm)
17. Begonia cvv. (rhizomatous begonias)
18. Begonia rex-cultorum cvv. (rex begonia)
19. Calathea cvv.
20. Cattleya alliance orchids
21. Cereus peruvianus
22. Cereus tetragonus (fairy castle cactus, Acanthocereus tetragonus, Cereus hildmannianus)2
23. Chamaedorea elegans (parlor palm)
24. Chlorophytum comosum (spider plant)
25. Cissus rhombifolia incl. 'Ellen Danica' (oakleaf ivy, grape ivy)
26. Clivia miniata cvv.
27. Codiaeum variegatum cvv. (croton)
28. Coffea arabica (coffee plant)
29. Cordyline fruticosa cvv. (ti plant)
30. Crassula ovata / argentea (jade plant)
31. Cryptanthus cvv. (earth star)
32. Cycas revoluta (sago palm)
33. Cyclamen persicum (florist's cyclamen)
34. Davallia and other furry-rhizomed ferns like Polypodium/Phlebodium (rabbit's-foot fern, hare's-foot fern, bear's-paw fern, kangaroo fern)
35. Dendrobium cvv.
36. Dieffenbachia cvv. (dumb cane)
37. Dionaea muscipula (venus flytrap)
38. Dracaena deremensis cvv.
39. Dracaena fragrans 'Massangeana' (corn plant)
40. Dracaena marginata cvv. (madagascar dragon tree)
41. Dracaena reflexa cvv.
42. Dracaena sanderiana (lucky bamboo, ribbon plant)
43. Dracaena surculosa (gold-dust dracaena)
44. Echeveria cvv. and intergenerics (Pachyveria, Sedeveria, etc.)
45. Echinocactus grusonii (golden barrel cactus)
46. Echinopsis spp.
47. Epipremnum aureum cvv. (pothos)
48. Episcia cvv. (flame violet)
49. Espostoa lanata, Oreocereus trollii, & Cephalocereus senilis (old man cacti)
50. Euphorbia ammak / ingens / trigona
51. Euphorbia lactea cvv.
52. Euphorbia milii (crown of thorns)
53. Euphorbia pulcherrima (poinsettia)
54. Ficus benjamina (weeping fig)
55. Ficus elastica cvv. (rubber plant)
56. Ficus lyrata (fiddle-leaf fig)
57. Ficus maclellandii (long-leaf fig)
58. Ficus pumila (creeping fig)
59. Fittonia albivenis cvv. (nerve plant)
60. Gardenia jasminoides (gardenia)
61. Guzmania cvv.
62. Gymnocalycium spp.
63. Gynura aurantiaca (purple passion plant)
64. Haworthia spp.
65. Hedera helix (english ivy)
66. Hemigraphis exotica (purple waffle plant)
67. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (tropical hibiscus)
68. Hippeastrum cvv.
69. Hoya carnosa cvv. (wax plant)
70. Hylocereus/Gymnocalycium grafts (moon cactus)
71. Hypoestes phyllostachya (polka-dot plant)
72. Jasminum spp. (jasmine)
73. Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (flaming katy, kalanchoe)
74. Kalanchoe luciae / thyrsiflora (flapjack plant)
75. Kalanchoe tomentosa
76. Lithops cvv.
77. Mammillaria cvv./spp.
78. Maranta leuconeura cvv. (prayer plant)
79. Mimosa pudica (sensitive plant)
80. Monstera deliciosa (swiss cheese philodendron)
81. Musa / Ensete cvv., esp. E. ventricosum (ornamental banana)
82. Nematanthus cvv. (guppy plant)
83. Nephrolepis exaltata cvv. (boston fern)
84. Oncidium alliance orchids
85. Opuntia spp./cvv. (prickly pear cactus)
86. Oxalis spp.
87. Pachira aquatica (money tree)
88. Pachypodium spp. (madagascar palm)
89. Peperomia clusiifolia cvv.
90. Peperomia obtusifolia (baby rubber plant)
91. Phalaenopsis / Doritaenopsis cvv. (moth orchid)
92. Philodendron 'Autumn' / 'Prince of Orange' / 'Moonlight'
93. Philodendron hederaceum cvv. (heart-leaf philodendron)
94. Philodendron 'Xanadu' / 'Hope' / bipinnatifidum / 'Spicy Dog'
95. Pilea cadierei (aluminum plant)
96. Pilea involucrata 'Norfolk'
97. Pilea mollis 'Moon Valley'
98. Pilosocereus pachycladus
99. Platycerium spp. (staghorn fern)
100. Polyscias balfouriana / scutellaria (balfour aralia, dinner plate aralia, shield aralia)
101. Polyscias fruticosa (ming aralia, parsley aralia)
102. Portulacaria afra
103. Radermachera sinica (china doll)
104. Ravenea rivularis (majesty palm)
105. Rhapis excelsa (lady palm)
106. Saintpaulia cvv. (african violet)
107. Sansevieria cylindrica (wisdom horns)
108. Sansevieria trifasciata cvv. (snake plant)
109. Saxifraga stolonifera (strawberry begonia)
110. Schefflera actinophylla / arboricola (umbrella tree)
111. Schefflera elegantissima (false aralia, Dizygotheca elegantissima)
112. Schlumbergera cvv. (holiday/thanksgiving/christmas cactus, Zygocactus)
113. Scindapsus pictus (satin pothos)
114. Sedum morganianum / burrito (burro's tail)
115. Senecio rowleyanus and S. radicans (string of pearls / string of bananas)
116. Spathiphyllum cvv. (peace lily)
117. Strelitzia nicolai / reginae (white/orange bird of paradise)
118. Stromanthe sanguinea cvv.
119. Syngonium podophyllum cvv. (arrowhead vine, nephthytis)
120. Tillandsia cyanea (pink quill)
121. Tillandsia spp. (air plants)
122. Tradescantia pallida (purple heart)
123. Tradescantia spathacea incl. variegated (moses-in-the-cradle, oyster plant)
124. Tradescantia zebrina (wandering jew)
125. Vriesea cvv. (small hybrids)
126. Vriesea splendens (flaming sword)
127. Yucca guatemalensis (spineless yucca)
128. Zamioculcas zamiifolia (zz plant)


1 The volume of photos necessary for that post, and the likelihood that some of them wouldn't be reused, meant that some of them weren't really representative of the range of appearances for some of the plants, especially the ones where a lot of varieties or species were being grouped into a single category. I'm not going to be exhaustive about it, but I don't want everybody to just vote for the prettier picture, either.
2 There's a lot of confusion about which species name is correct for the fairy castle cactus, but Cacti Guide uses C. tetragonus, and it's the shortest to type, so I'm going with that.


phantom_tiger said...

Answer: spiderplant.

Why: They'll live in an office. It's fairly hard to kill them because they store water. Easy to get. Not as spiky and heavy as sansevieria. You can hang them up, and they pretty much propagate themselves. Slightly boring but reliable.

Mandy Pi said...

I have a few favorites on the list:

Ponytail palm is by far my most neglected plant, but always looks good.

Rex begonia has some of the coolest foliage of any plant even if it is a bit difficult at times.

Snake plant takes low light and neglect like a champ.

Fittonia (nerve plant), I get the most compliments on this one due to the awesome foliage.

phantom_tiger said...

Hmm. Spiderplants aren't my favourite, I just thought they have a good shot. My favourite would be either Gynura aurantiaca which I'm fond of, or sansevieria. Or even Peperomia clusifolia. But I just assume my favourite won't win. It will be just like American Idol or something!

Paul said...

Which ones are you still lacking photos for?

mr_subjunctive said...


I'd like a different fairy castle cactus (variously Cereus tetragonus, Acanthocereus tetragonus, or Cereus hidmannius monstrose, depending on the source) than the one I have right now, which came from Flickr. It's not that it's a bad picture so much as that I don't like using pictures where I haven't received an explicit okay to use them. (I'm less bothered by Wikimedia Commons, though, since that's sort of the point of posting pictures there.) We even went to Iowa City a couple days ago so I could try to get my own photo, but of course nobody had one.

Other than that, um, a Cephalocereus senilis picture would be nice, but I could live without.

Some confirmed Echinocereus pictures would be okay (I'm pretty sure I have one, but it's not flowering.).

Hippeastrum photos that showed both plant and bloom would be good, though I have one from Wikimedia Commons.

Oncidium alliance orchid photos showing both plant and bloom would be useful.

I took a picture of Senecio radicans in Iowa City, but I don't think it's good enough to use.

Other than that, I think I have everything, and all of those fall in the "nice to have but not critical" category. Presently, I'm a little over halfway finished doing the revised photos, and I'm thinking I should be able to begin posting polls Wednesday. Thursday at the latest.