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Piggyback Plant
Tolmiea menziesii
  
19 Nurseries Carry This Plant

About Piggyback Plant (Tolmiea menziesii) 19 Nurseries Carry This Plant The plant Tolmiea menziesii is the only member of the monotypic genus Tolmiea. It is known by the common names youth on age, thousand mothers, and piggyback plant. It is a perennial plant commonly kept as an ornamental. It is native to the west coast of North America, especially in regions dominated by s. It requires moisture and does not tolerate much sun or dry conditions. The plant is most interesting for its reproductive habits. It grows plantlets from the petiole near the base of each leaf. The plantlets drop off, fall in the soil, and take root there. It will also reproduce by rhizome and by seed propagation. It bears small flowers of various colors, usually brownish-purple to white depending on the cultivar. It has hairy, toothed leaves and a capsule fruit containing spiny seed.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Perennial herb

Flower Color
Flower Color
Purple, Green, Cream, White, Brown

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Spring

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Part Shade

Moisture
Moisture
Moderate - High

Nurseries
Nurseries
Carried by 19

Ease of Care
Ease of Care
Moderately Easy

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Medium

Soil Description
Soil Description
Prefers rich, forest soil with well-decomposed organic component derived from decaying wood. For garden purposes add redwood compost to soil mix.

Common uses
Common uses
Groundcovers, Deer Resistant

Propagation
Propagation?
For propagating by seed: No treatment.

Sunset Zones
Sunset Zones?
4, 5*, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24*

Natural Setting
Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 40.1" - 66.0", Summer Precipitation: 0.41" - 2.25", Coldest Month: 38.6" - 46.9", Hottest Month: 55.5" - 71.4", Humidity: 0.09" - 21.53", Elevation: 77" - 6013"

Alternative Names
Common Names: Pig-a-back Plant, Thousand Mothers, Youth On Age


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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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