Tetradenia Riparia
by Eva Lechner
Title
Tetradenia Riparia
Artist
Eva Lechner
Medium
Photograph - Photograph/macro Photography
Description
Tetradenia riparia is a species of flowering plant in the mint and sage family Lamiaceae.It is occasionally referred to as misty plume bush and is commonly used as a decorative garden plant due to its flowers when in full bloom. Tetradenia means 'four glands' and riparia translates to 'growing on banks of rivers'.
It is a shrub that grows up to 2m high, occasionally reaching 5m. The foliage is sticky and smells pleasantly aromatic. The plant is deciduous and multi-stemmed while the branches are semi-succulent. The leaves are simple, large, heart-shaped and opposite. They are also coarsely toothed, thick-haired and sticky, and are 35-80 mm long. Leaves that are crushed have a ginger scent. Both sides are covered with a thin dark red lint.
The inflorescences are branched, large bunches at the ends of the shoots. About three millimeters in diameter and would appear in veins, the flowers range in color from white to lilac, and pink flowers are also found. Male flower spikes have more of the "mist" effect than the female flowers which tend to be more compact. Flowering occurs only in subtropical or temperate climates in wintertime (June-August) when the plant is bare, in the top section of the branches, coinciding with the frost.
It grows on the banks of rivers and hillsides. It is found in eastern South Africa in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, Namibia, Angola and Botswana and in eastern tropical Africa.
Uploaded
May 24th, 2020
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