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Coleus madagascariensis
Also called Thicket Spurflower
A fragrant, semi-succulent subshrub from southern Africa that sprawls into a dense mound up to about 1 m high and roots where its stems touch the ground. It grows best in lightly shaded spots and is easily propagated from summer cuttings.
Coleus madagascariensis, synonym Plectranthus madagascariensis, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae that is native to southern Africa and southeastern Africa. Its common names include, thicket coleus, Madagascar coleus, and candle plant.
Propagation can easily be made by cuttings in the summer, where no rooting hormone is required. The plant thrives in lightly shaded areas. Its cultivar 'Variegated Mintleaf' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The plant is safe from pests because of the pungent leaf fragrance, therefore it is not predated by herbivorous animals. Though larval caterpillars of moths and butterflies can flourish on the plant's leafy parts, thereby disturbing the leaves.
It is native to South Africa, Swaziland, Eswatini, Mozambique, Mauritius and Réunion, but not Madagascar. Growing in the seasonally dry tropical biome, it is found in shaded subtropical brushes, on dry rocky outcrops and forest edges. It can survive extreme drought by wilting and remaining in a state of weak, semi-dormancy until rainfall occurs again.
Hullworts · Coleus amboinicus · Coleus argentatus · Coleus barbatus · Coleus maculosus subsp. edulis · Coleus esculentus · Coleus rotundifolius · Coleus scutellarioides · Hullworts
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Coleus madagascariensis 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.
