The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Justicia brandegeeana
Also called Shrimp Plant, Honolulu Salvia, Mexican Shrimp Plant, False Hop, Shrimpbush
In Singapore: Shrimp Plant, Mexican Shrimp Plant, Shrimpbush, False Hop, Brazilian Shower Plant, Fountain Plant (Grown in Singapore)
Shrimp plant is a bushy evergreen shrub native to Mexico, grown for its shrimp-like pink to red bracts that bloom for months. Keep it trimmed for a tidy shape and give it some shade in hot climates.
Justicia brandegeeana, the Mexican shrimp plant, shrimp plant or false hop, is an evergreen shrub in the genus Justicia of the acanthus family Acanthaceae, native to Mexico, and also naturalized in Florida.
It grows to 1 m tall (rarely more) with spindly limbs. The leaves are oval, green, 3–7.5 cm long. The flowers are white, extending from red bracts which look somewhat like shrimps, hence the common name "shrimp flower".
The shrimp plant thrives in the shade in tropical areas. It does best in well-drained sandy or loamy soil, but is generally low maintenance and drought-tolerant. As it dislikes temperatures below 7 °C (45 °F), in cooler temperate areas it is best grown under glass, where it is excellent as a potted houseplant, owing to its ability to tolerate low light and some neglect. Fertilization is not required.
The shape is generally long and spindly. If trimmed back regularly, it can maintain a bushy habit and will not need support. If the branches are allowed to grow long, they will become unable to support themselves and sag towards the ground.
Malabar Nut · Brazilian-plume · Justicia floribunda · Warer Willow
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Justicia brandegeeana 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.
