This is a very small growing form of the species, at least by comparison to others, with a much reduced caudex. Sometimes referred to as the ‘European Clone’ because it was popularized there much earlier, it is native to the Indo-Pacific region without specific locality (that we can ascertain).

The caudex is only a few inches across, rather flattened with radiating ridges and bearing short spines. The branches are tall, fairly full and produce the typical small white flowers followed by orange fruits. As with other species of Hydnophytum, this is an ant symbiotic species and has a series of tunnels throughout the caudex accessed by tiny openings at the sides and beneath the caudex. This species in an epiphyte.

A bizarre, epiphytic, caudiciform plant native to New Guinea and northern Australia. It belongs to the family Rubiaceae that includes coffee. It has a globular caudex with some bumps but mainly smooth, glossy, skin and many tiny openings that lead to a labyrinth of interior chambers.

The leaves are curled, thick and leathery with a smooth surface, borne on a full crown of small limbs that also bear fleshy fruit. In nature it maintains a symbiotic relationship with ants that make a home in its interior chambers, in exchange for providing food and protection to the plant.

In cultivation, no native ant species are attracted to it. Can be grown potted in loose, well-drained media, or mounted in the fashion of a Platycerium fern, using a thin layer of sphagnum moss. Needs frequent watering, but will not tolerate being constantly wet.