The classical Cheng-Minkowycz study of convection past a vertical plate embedded in a porous medium has been extended to the case of a tridisperse porous medium (TDPM). The boundary-layer analysis leads to expressions for the velocity and temperature fields in terms of two geometrical parameters, two interphase momentum transfer parameters, two thermal diffusivity ratios, two permeability ratios, two thermal conductivity ratios, and two inter-phase heat transfer parameters. For the leading edge region, and for an inner layer, a similarity solution is obtained. This involves the first eight parameters, each of which is a characteristic of the TDPM. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.