General Information

COMMON NAMES: Caricature Plant, Morado GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE se.Asia - Malesia - ?n.Australia COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised; Land, lowlands SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental Leaf-H KEY FEATURES: Shrub to 3m with variable leaves, common in hedges. LEAVES opposite, oval, 18cm; dark purple to bronze, or purple-bronze with white centre, or green with white or pink centre, or centre dark and pale green with border white or yellow. FLOWERS terminal clusters, purple; tube 25mm, laterally compressed, tip like open beak. SIMILAR SPECIES: Pseuderanthemum carruthersii has flowers with flat-face of 5 lobes (vs like an open beak); both species have forms with leaves uniformly dark purple, and leaves variegated green with pale green and white to cream.

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
	++	+++				-		-

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-

Graptophyllum pictum cvs. Linnaeus
SYNONYMS: Graptophyllum pictum var. pictum; Graptophyllum hortense [incl. GW]; Justicia pictum

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); ASTERIDAE; Scrophulariales; ACANTHACEAE

IDENTIFICATION: Erect shrub to 3m with variable leaves, common in hedges. LEAVES opposite, oval, 18cm; dark purple to bronze, or purple-bronze with white centre, or green with white or pink centre, or centre dark and pale green with border white or yellow. FLOWERS terminal clusters, purple; corolla tube 25mm, laterally compressed with beak-like tip - upper rigid and lower with 3 lobes at right angles.

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.786 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.524 Hortus 3rd
p.526 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.36 Tropica
p.5/128 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.100 Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM03a, zupD03a

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