Monophyllaea horsfieldii

Monophyllaea horsfieldii is an herbaceous lithophyte belonging to the family Gesneriaceae and found mostly on limestone outcropings in Borneo and peninsular Malaysia.

Description

The entire plant consists of a single cotyledon of Brobdingnagian proportions; the blade or lamina can be "over a metre" in length and about 30 inches wide, topping a massive hypocotyl of similar length. It grows new tissue at the joint of the blade and hypocotyl, while the oldest tissue at the edge gradually dies back.