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.
Tetradenia riparia
Also called Mountain Mist, Gingerbush, Ginger Iboza, Ginger Misty Plumebush, Iboza, Large Gingerbush, Misty Plume Bush
Tetradenia riparia is a fast-growing, semi-succulent deciduous shrub from southern and eastern Africa, valued for its abundant mauve flowers and ginger-scented leaves. It grows readily in well-drained, composted soil with occasional summer watering and needs pruning after flowering.
Tetradenia riparia is a species of flowering plant native to southern Africa. It belongs in the mint and sage family Lamiaceae. Common names include ginger bush, incense bush, Ibozane, and musk bush. It is occasionally referred to as misty plume bush and is commonly used as a decorative garden plant due to its flowers when in full bloom.
Tetradenia means 'four glands' and riparia translates to 'growing on banks of rivers'.
It is commonly planted in gardens as an ornamental because of its abundant decorative flowering. Fast growing (up to 80 cm per year), the plant will flower in its first year and would prefer occasional watering in summer, though less so in winter. It prefers well drained and well composted soil, and it needs pruning after flowering. It is easily propagated by cuttings.
It grows on the banks of rivers and hillsides, including riverbanks, forest edges, dry woodland valleys and hillsides where there is only minor frost. It is found in eastern South Africa in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, Namibia, Angola and Botswana and in eastern tropical Africa into Ethiopia.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tetradenia riparia 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.
