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Plectranthus scutellarioides
Also called Coleus, Painted nettle, Common Coleus
Coleus is a bushy, woody-based plant grown mainly for its colourful variegated leaves, and it is often treated as a short-lived perennial or annual. Pinch the growing tips regularly to keep it compact and prevent flowering, which is best removed.
Coleus scutellarioides, commonly known as coleus, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae (the mint or deadnettle family), native to southeast Asia through to Australia. Typically growing to 60–75 cm (24–30 in) tall and wide, it is a bushy, woody-based evergreen perennial, widely grown for the highly decorative variegated leaves found in cultivated varieties.
Another common name is painted nettle, reflecting its relationship to deadnettles (the Lamium species), which are in the same family. (True nettles and their close kin are in the distant family Urticaceae.) The synonyms Coleus blumei, Plectranthus scutellarioides and Solenostemon scutellarioides are also widely used for this species.
Coleus scutellarioides is native from southeast Asia through to Australia (the Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, Southeast China, Java, Laos, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Peninsular Malaysia, Maluku, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, New Guinea, Northern Territory, Philippines, Queensland, the Solomon Islands, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Western Australia).
Common Thicket Spurflower · Hullworts · Coleus amboinicus · Coleus argentatus · Coleus barbatus · Coleus maculosus subsp. edulis · Coleus esculentus · Coleus rotundifolius · Hullworts
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Coleus scutellarioides 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.
