Re: I.D. Help Required/Megaskepasma erythrochlamys

--- Glenn Breayley <valhalla@iafrica.com> wrote:
> Hi All
> 
> I have three plants which have me a little
> flummoxed, so any help would be
> appreciated.
> 
> 
> 2/ I have a plant I bought as Megaskepasma
> erythrochlamys. The flower looks
> very similar to photos I have of this ( similar to
> Odontonema strictum ) but
> is in a rich violet colour. A soft, tropical looking
> shrub & seems to flower
> year round. Any ideas ?

Glenn,

Your description seems to be a good match for this
plant.  This shrub is from the tropics, being native
to Venezuela, and is usually only grown in USDA zones
10-12.  The english common names are Red Justicia or
Brazilian Red Cloak.  It is not very often seen here
in California, although there is a plant which blooms
at the Huntington Botanical Garden, but I don't think
it blooms year round there.  I have only seen the live
plant twice, last June  in a friend's garden in steamy
tropical Malacca, Malaysia, and again in July in the
Princess Diana Conservatory at Kew Gardens.  The one
at Kew was in full bloom on a 5 foot tall plant, and
the one in Malaysia was probably 15 foot tall, and not
as fully blooming as it was not in full sun.  The
leaves do resemble Odontonema stricta, only much
larger.  This genus has only the one species, and is a
very attractive large flowering shrub.  It prefers
well drained rich soils and regular year round
watering.  

I am not sure of its tolerance of wet and cold
mediterranean winters, and had always assumed that it
needed more summer heat than we have in Berkeley/San
Francisco to bloom.  Our winter night time lows
average between 35 and 48F between late October and
early March, and the rest of the year they average
around 55F.  Our daytime winter highs are usually only
55 to 65F, and summer highs are also unusually cool,
averaging around 65 to 75F.  I wonder how this
compares to Capetown, where I assume you are generally
much warmer, and probably more similar to southern
California.  I may have to try growing this shrub now
to find out if it is tolerant of our conditions, which
are more similar to cloudforests in tropical areas
than  the typical mediterranean climate in many ways. 
It may act like Odontonema stricta for me, which grows
lustily and doesn't seem fazed by our winters, but is
a very shy bloomer in my garden. 

This large shrub is much more common in south Florida
than California, and I had always assumed that it
needed more heat and humidity than we have in the San
Francisco Bay Area, to do well.  A nurseryman friend
of mine, Gary Hammer, says he has grown it in Lakeview
Terrace, southern California, but that it never
bloomed for him.  It also survived the regular winter
frosts he gets, without damage.  He is located in what
I think Sunset Western Garden classifies as Sunset
Zone 19, and the Huntington is located in Sunset Zone
21.  Their winter lows are very similar.  It is rather
strange that his performed differently than the one at
the Huntington, as the climate is so similar and
distance so close.

Hope this helps, and I was interested to hear that it
is doing so well for you in a mediterrranean
climate...

Regards,
David Feix 


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