Commemorating Señor Escallon, late 18th century Spanish traveller in S America.
Mostly evergreen shrubs, rarely trees. Leaves alternate, toothed. Flowers in terminal or axillary clusters or solitary in upper axils. Flower parts 5; calyx tube short. Ovary inferior, with 2-3 chambers; style 1, with a head or divided into 2 at the tip. Fruit a capsule; seeds numerous.
The glossy leaves, tubular flowers and dense branching habit allow this genus to be used for hedges and windbreaks as well as border plants.
39 species from S America, mostly in the Andes.
Seed, softwood and hardwood cuttings.
Mostly evergreen shrubs; stamens 5-6; ovary with 2-3 chambers; fruit retaining calyx lobes and style.
Mt Lofty Bot. Garden, Adelaide, has about 20 taxa.
Sleumer (1968).
Source: (2002). Grossulariaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Cultivars of uncertain hybrid origin
Flowers prolific, large, deep red. Raised c. 1912 at Glasnevin, Ireland, by Mr Ball. Possibly a colour variant of e. rubra var. macrantha.
Evergreen shrub to about 2 m tall. Branches semi-pendulous. Leaves mostly less than 2.5 cm long, round to obovate.One of a group of similarly named cultivars raised by the Slieve Donard Nsy, Newry, Co. Down, Ireland, presumed cross of e. rubra or e. rubra var. macrantha with e. virgata.
Vigorous shrub to 2 m or so tall with leaves to about 2.5 cm long. Flowers pale carmine, about 1.5 cm wide. Raised at the Royal Bot. Gds, Edinburgh, pre- 1914. Sometimes listed as a cultivar of the hybrid e. _langleyensis Veitch (e. rubra _ e. virgata), which is treated here as a cultivar.
Deciduous shrub to about 2 m tall. Flowers pink in bud, opening white with a pink flush and with spreading petals.
Shrub with angled shoots. Leaves dark green, to about 7 cm long,more or less ovate. Flowers with pinkish buds but becoming white, in terminal clusters 12-15 cm long, fragrant. Presumed hybrid between e. bifida and e. _exoniensis originating from Caerhays Castle, Cornwall, uk, where it was discovered by gardener, Mr Ivey.
Shrub to nearly 2 m tall with arching branches and small leaves 1-2.5 cm long, oval to obovate. Flowers rosy pink in early summer. Raised by the Veitch Nsy, Langley, uk, c. 1893 as a cross of e. virgata with a selection of e. rubra. [e. _langleyensis]
Dense shrub with dark red flowers.Originated in Holland by the firm, p.g. Zwijnenburg, from a cross between 'William Watson' and 'c.f. Ball' and very similar to the species.