Perennials, Tropicals > Plectranthus > Plectranthus amboinicus > Plectranthus amboinicus
Plectranthus amboinicus
Country Borage
Origin: Africa - Burundi, Angola, Tanzania, Mozambique, Natal, Swaziland. Arabian Peninsula - Yemen, to India
| Family |
| Lamiaceae |
| Genus |
| Plectranthus |
| Species |
| amboinicus |
| Category |
| Perennials, Tropicals |
| Synonyms |
| Coleus amboinicus, Coleus aromaticus, Coleus carnosus, Coleus crassifolius, Coleus subfrutectosus, Coleus suborbicularis, Coleus suganda, Coleus vaalae, Majana amboinica |
| USDA Hardiness Zone |
| 10 |
| Canadian Hardiness Zone |
| Requires cold season protection under glass. |
| RHS Hardiness Zone |
| H1c |
| Temperature (°C) |
| 5 – 10 |
| Height |
| 50 - 100 cm |
Photographs
Cultivars
click to expand
Description and Growing Information
Flowering Period
| General Description |
| An evergreen perennial plant with lemon-scented, thick, fleshy, sprawling stems and leaves. |
| Cultivation |
| Grow in in full sun or shade in a fertile well-drained soil. |
| Habitat |
| Roadsides, waste places and on river banks; at elevations up to 1,500 metres. |
| Bark/Stem Description |
| Lemon-scented, thick, fleshy, sprawling stems. |
| Leaf Description |
| Petiolate with blades fleshy, broadly ovate to sub-orbicular, rhombic, or reniform, 4-10 cm long, 3-9 cm wide, rounded to truncate and then often long-attenuate at base, obtuse to rounded at apex, coarsely crenate to dentate at margins or entire toward base, densely appressed-pubescent above and beneath; petiole 1-4.5 cm long. |
| Flower Description |
| Terminal, spicate, 10-20 cm long, densely pubescent, the verticils 10-20(or more)-flowered, subglobose, the bracts 3-4 mm long, hirsute and glandular; pedicels slender, hirsute, to 5 mm long; calyx campanulate, 1.5-4 mm long, hirsute and glandular, the upper lip erect, broadly ovate-oblong, the other teeth narrow, acute; corolla pale blue or mauve to pink, 8-12 mm long, the tube declinate, 3-4 mm long, expanding distally, pubescent without, the upper lip to 4.5 mm long, 3 mm wide, erect, puberulent, the lower lop to 5-6 mm long, 4 mm wide, concave; stamens with filaments mostly fused into a tube around the style. |
| Fruit Description |
| A small nut, smooth, pale brown, 0.7 mm long, 0.5 mm wide. |
| Notable Specimens |
| Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden, Mae Rim District, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. |
| Propagation |
| By seed: sow in well-drained soil, covering lightly with a thin layer of sand, and place in a warm but shaded spot. The seed germinates in about three weeks. Stem cuttings or division. |
top