Aphelandra squarrosa Nees

Saffron Spike

Shrubby plant 1-2 m tall with erect, sparsely branched stems. Leaves to about 30 cm long, ovate to elliptic, glossy, leathery, slightly blistered and with sunken veins. Flower clusters distinctly 4-sided and in 1s or 3s, each to about 20 cm long, the flowers a bright canary yellow.

Brazil

4-sided, dense, colourful flower spikes.

 

The scarlet-flowered, straggling A. tetragona from the W Indies and northern South America is less frequently grown.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Acanthaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

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Distribution map

Aphelandra squarrosa 'Louisae'

Has leaves with white veins.

kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Asteranae
order      Lamiales
family       Acanthaceae
genus        Aphelandra R.Br.