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Phaulopsis imbricata is a scrambling perennial in the Acanthus family, native to tropical and southern Africa, Madagascar and nearby islands. It is a wild plant with little horticultural history, so the care notes below are general guidance for a warm, dry-season climate.
Phaulopsis imbricata is a shrub native to South Africa. Leaves are opposite, one larger than the other in each pair, usually asymmetrical at the base. Phaulopsis imbricata is a good fodder, the young leaves are eaten as a vegetable and the plant-ash in oil is rubbed into scarifications on the back for rheumatism in Tanganyika. The flowers have an unpleasant smell. It is filed as near-threatened by the IUCN. It is one of the larval host plants of the butterflies great eggfly, tiny grass blue, brown pansy, soldier pansy and marbled elf.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Phaulopsis imbricata 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.
