Shape | A broad spreading low growing shrub. |
Propagation | Softwood cuttings with bottom heat. |
Cultivation | Grow in well drained but slightly moist soils in partial shade. |
Notable Specimens | The Royal Botanical Garden, Burlington, Ontario, Canada. |
Habitat | Found in dense forests in valleys and mountain slopes at elevations of 700-1800 m. |
Bark/Stem Description | The thick branchlets are covered with a dense, purple, semi-translucent, long, apically forked and acute hairs. |
Leaf Description | The 9-30 cm long by 6-16 cm wide leaves are elliptic, oblong-ovate to broadly ovate. The leaves are grey-green abaxially but upon emergence may be purple; adaxially the leaves are dark green.The thin papery leaves are slightly curved, with 8-11 secondary veins on both sides of the midvein. Leaves have a rounded to shallow cordate base, an irregularly triangualr dentate to denticulate leaf margin and an acuminate apex. |
Flower Description | The flowers are held in 10-16 cm wide corymbose cymes. The sterile flowers contain 4 obovate–orbicular to broadly orbicular sepals while the fertile flowers contain a campanulate calyx tube. The petals are purplish to blue-pink and are ovate. |
Fruit Description | The fruit capsule is 3-4 mm in diameter with a truncated apex. The ellipsoid seed are brown, slightly compressed and winged at both ends with a striately veined seed coat. |
Colour Description | Dark grey-green to light purple(emerging leaves) foliage, purple to purple-pink flowers and brown to purple-brown stems and bark. |
Texture Description | Medium to coarse textured plant. |