Commemorating Josef Sanchez, Professor of Botany in Cadiz in the 18th century.
Perennial herbs and soft shrubs. Leaves large, opposite, entire or with a few teeth; stalk winged. Flowers in a terminal, sometimes branched cluster with showy bracts. Calyx with 5 more or less free sepals. Floral tube long and narrow, sometimes swollen above the middle and with 5 equal lobes. Stamens 2, protruding from the flower. Fruit an oblong capsule containing 6-8 seeds.
Mostly grown as an indoor plant for its spectacular flowers and foliage.
Seed and softwood cuttings.
Large, showy bracts; stamens protruding from the flower.
About 20 species from tropical C and S America.
Source: (2002). Acanthaceae. In: . 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.