Pseuderanthemum, the Australian Nerve Flower
by Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats
Alexandra Butova is our columnist, journalist, and photographer, living in Riga, Latvia. She has has been with TopTropicals since Day One (2002), writing about magic plants, travel, and of course cats - from the CatNation she belongs to. Alex is in charge of TopTropicals.ru website.
Pseuderanthemum, the Australian Nerve Flower
...A compact grower, this happy plant takes both sun and shade, and thrives nearly in any conditions and soils... From afar, we see its smiling, sunny, happy flower faces dotted with magenta-purple freckles, reverberating in the showering sunlight... The low growing bushes cheer you with a cascade of their star-flower fireworks. And the bonus part is - striking leaves: papery, narrow, metallic-green with bright mauve underneath in attractive trailing clumps. The combination of pinkish flowers with splashes of purple and these unusual leaves make this plant quite unique. Australians say that presence of these plants in the garden removes anxiety and calms your nerves...
Magenta Freckles of Shooting Stars: a Nerve Flower for stress relief
Pseuderanthemum seticalyx is a rare species of genus Pseuderanthemum (Family Acanthaceae), which consists of about 60 species of herbs and shrubs native to the tropical regions of the world. This plant is native to Australia. Its common names are Australian Nerve Flower and Shooting Stars.
A compact grower, this happy plant takes both sun and shade, and thrives nearly in any conditions and soils! What a wonderful solution for a beginner gardener or someone who just doesn't have time for high maintenance landscape.
This lovely bush needs regular water to establish, then becomes drought tolerant, easy to grow. It simply adores the sun. From afar, we see its smiling, sunny, happy flower faces dotted with magenta-purple freckles, reverberating in the showering sunlight... The low growing bushes cheer you with a cascade of their star-flower fireworks. And the bonus part is - striking leaves: papery, narrow, metallic-green with bright mauve underneath in attractive trailing clumps. The combination of pinkish flowers with splashes of purple and these unusual leaves make this plant quite unique.
Pseuderanthemum seticalyx is anerect small shrub. From mid-spring to early winter the plant produces small white papery flat-faced flowers, 5-lobed with 2 fused together, and dotted with magenta-purple spots. Flowers are held in branched cluster on an upright spike at the branch tips. Flowers will eventually develop into small, club-shaped fruiting capsules, each having 4 seeds.
A relatively small shrub, it's popular for planting along walkways, with other shrubs, and even mixed with perennials. In frost-free areas it grows about 4 ft tall and wide. Because it flowers non-stop throughout the summer, Shooting Stars can also be found in Northern areas as an annual for garden beds, borders, and container gardens.
In container gardens, Shooting Stars is beautiful enough to grow by itself as a specimen plant, but also mixes well with a wide variety of other plants.
Shooting Stars grows and blooms best in light shade, but it also takes full sun. Water it regularly during extended periods of hot, dry weather. To keep the soil moist longer, it's helpful to apply a 2-3" layer of mulch on top of the soil. This trick works for container gardens, too!
Fertilize Shooting Stars regularly to keep it blooming profusely. Recommended fertilizer is SUNSHINE Megaflor - Bloom Nutrition Booster.
Prune regularly to maintain preferred height and size, to encourage new growth and more blooms, as well as to keep bush dense and compact. It tolerates hard-pruning very well and should be applied to keep hedges neat and tidy.
This charming tropical flowering shrub is excellent as an ornamental specimen plant or landscape shrub. It is great in flower bed or border, ideal for container planting. It makes great shrubbery when mass planted as screens or hedges because of the dense and colorful foliage and free-flowering habit. Plant it if you are a wildlife lover to attract butterflies and bees to your garden. You can't go wrongwith the Australian Shooting Stars!
And of course one more question: Why the Australian Nerve Flower?
Maybe because Pseuderanthemum seticalyx has a distinct vein (nerve) on leaf underneath? Nevertheless, the Australians say that presence of these plants in the garden removes anxiety and calms your nerves. Is it true? It doesn't hurt to try for natural stress relief!
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