General Information

COMMON NAMES: Sanchezia GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Ecuador - Peru; EXOTIC EXOTIC circumtropical (incl. Fiji - Societies, Hawai‘i) COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised; Land, lowlands, gardens SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental (Leaf/Flower) KEY FEATURES: An erect shrub to 2m. STEMS 4-angled. LEAVES opposite, large oval, to 25x8cm, glossy green with white to cream midrib and veins. FLOWERS terminal clusters along a stalk; bracts bright red, to 4cm; 5 sepals shorter than bracts; corolla, tube-like, protruding, yellow to orange; stamens 2 fertile and protruding, 2 sterile within corolla. SIMILAR SPECIES: Sanchezia parvibracteata has flower bracts shorter than calyx lobes (vs. bracts longer).

Cook Islands Distribution

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

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

Sanchezia speciosa Leonard
SYNONYMS: Sanchezia nobilis [hort.]; Sanchezia nobilis var. glaucophylla [hort.]; Sanchezia glaucophylla [hort.]

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

IDENTIFICATION: An erect shrub to 2m. Young STEMS smooth, 4-angled, purplish. LEAVES opposite, oval, 25x8cm, base tapering, tip tapering; glossy, mid-green with white to cream midrib and main veins. FLOWERS terminal clusters; bracts bright red, 4cm long; calyx 5 long lobes, but shorter than bract; corolla yellow to orange, 3-5cm tube with 5 short lobes, slightly hairy; stamens 2 fertile, 2 sterile (~25mm).

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.780 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.1002 Hortus 3rd
p.1036 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.35 Tropica
p.5/126 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM04b, zD02, zupD04a

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