Flowering Coleus_01
by Greg Reed
Title
Flowering Coleus_01
Artist
Greg Reed
Medium
Photograph - Photo
Description
2013 October, Elizabethan Gardens, Manteo, NC
Coleus Solenostemon scutellarioides
Plectranthus scutellarioides, commonly known as coleus, is a tropical evergreen tender perennial that has been a popular foliage plant since at least Victorian times. It is native to Southeast Asia and Malaysia. It has been assiduously hybridized over the years into a very large number of vegetatively propagated and seed propagated strains with an almost infinite number of leaf color combinations including most colors of the spectrum except true blue. Cultivars range in size from dwarf 6” tall plants to large mounded 36” tall plants. Four-sided stems are semi-succulent. Showy multi-colored leaves are generally ovate to oblong and toothed. Leaves frequently feature mixtures of colors in irregular patterns. Blue to white nettle-like flowers (more common on seed strains) bloom in racemes in summer to early fall, but are not showy and tend to visually detract from the symmetry and attractiveness of the plants.
Solenostemon scutellarioides and Coleus blumei are both synonyms and former names for this plant.
Genus name comes from the Greek words plectron meaning spur and anthos meaning flower in reference to the spur-shaped flowers of some members of the genus.
Specific epithet means resembling the genus Scutellaria which comes from the Latin word scutella meaning a small dish or saucer in reference to the shape of the persistent calyx after the flowers fade.
Source: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDe...
Uploaded
December 9th, 2013
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