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Heliotropium arborescens
Also called Cherry-pie, Heliotrope
A bushy, evergreen shrub grown for its dense clusters of fragrant purple flowers, often with a vanilla-like scent. It is short-lived as a perennial and is often grown as a half-hardy annual.
Heliotropium arborescens, the garden heliotrope or just heliotrope, is a species of flowering plant in the family Heliotropiaceae, native to Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. Common names also include cherry pie and common heliotrope.
As a perennial, it is hardy in zones 10 to 11, and requires wintering indoors in zones 9 or colder. It is hardy down to about 5 °C (41 °F). It can also be grown as a half-hardy annual (grown from seed under glass and planted out after all danger of frost has passed) in those areas. Alternatively soft-wood cuttings may be taken in summer.
During the Victorian era in England this plant gained great recognition, often appearing in gardens and the herbaceous borders of parks. They were also grown as standards. A vanilla-scented heliotrope was laid on the coffin of the American poet Emily Dickinson. Note that the common name "garden heliotrope" may also refer to valerian, which is not closely related.
The seeds are poisonous. The ASPCA's Animal Poison Control Center article on heliotropes lists them as a substance which is toxic to horses and can induce liver failure in equines. The plant is not very palatable, but will be eaten by animals with no other forage; poisonings typically occur from ingestion of green plant material or material in hay.
The toxic components can cause liver failure, referred to as "walking disease" or "sleepy staggers". Signs include weight loss, weakness, sleepiness, yawning, incoordination, yellowish discoloration to mucous membranes (icterus), neurologic problems secondary to liver failure (aimless walking, chewing motions, head pressing). Animals may appear to be normal at first, then become suddenly affected; the syndrome progresses rapidly over a few days to a week.
Clasping heliotrope · Heliotropium arboreum · Salt heliotrope · Heliotropium ellipticum · European heliotrope · Heliotrope
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Heliotropium arborescens 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.
