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Thunbergia natalensis
Also called Bluebell Clockvine, Natal Blue Bell
Thunbergia natalensis is a scrambling or sprawling African perennial with pale blue trumpet flowers in summer, grown as groundcover in partial shade. It is normally evergreen but drops its leaves and goes dormant after dry or cold winters.
Thunbergia natalensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae, that is native to parts of mainland Africa, including South Africa (Limpopo, Mpulamanga, KwaZulu-Natal, East Cape Province), Eswatini, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. It occurs in forest margins, bush and grassland. Normally evergreen, it responds to dry or cold winters by losing its leaves and going dormant. Common names include dwarf thunbergia, Natal blue thunbergia and Natal blue-bell.
This handsome plant is cultivated in temperate regions for its masses of summer-flowering pale blue, trumpet-shaped blooms against dark hairy leaves. Growing to around 1 m (3.3 ft) tall, it is best displayed as groundcover in a partially-shaded position.
Blackeyed Susan vine · Bush clockvine · Bengal trumpet · Golden Clockvine · Laurel clockvine · Mysore Trumpetvine · Clockvines
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Thunbergia natalensis 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.
