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Alternanthera bettzickiana
Calico plant is a low perennial herb with colourful variegated leaves, grown mainly as an edging or bedding plant in warm climates. It is a species, not a genus; it does best in warm, sunny spots and is frost-tender.
Alternanthera bettzickiana, commonly known as calico-plant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It is commonly used as an ornamental edging plant. Native to South America, its cultivar 'Red' is similar in appearance to some of the Alternanthera dentata and Alternanthera brasiliana varieties.
It is particularly popular in China, where it is "cultivated in nearly all the large cities". Thriving in full sun to partial shade, the plant has been naturalised in southeastern Queensland, Australia, where it grows in woodlands but can also be found along roads through rainforest. The plant is also harvested from the wild for its edible leaves, which may aid anaemic children.
Alternanthera brasiliana var. villosa · Brazilian joyweed · Sanguinaria · Alternanthera helleri · Alligatorweed · Scarlet Temple · Sessile joyweed
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Alternanthera bettzickiana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
