PSEUDOSBECKIA SWYNNERTONII - 10 SEED PACK - EVERGREEN IN SOUTH AFRICA

The Pseudosbeckia genus is placed in the Melastomataceae family. The Melastomataceae family has 163 genera with 4283 species. Other members of this family include genera such as Tibouchina, Melastoma, Osbeckia, Gravesia, Dicellandra, Heterocentron, Huberia, Topobea and Dissotis. Pseudosbeckia is said to be distributed across Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It will attract butterflies and bees to the garden.           Pseudosbeckia swynnertonii, previously known as Dissotis swynnertonii and Osbeckia swynnertonii is a small evergreen up to 1.2 m tall. It is native to Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In Mozambique it can be spotted at Martin’s Falls and in Zimbabwe it can be found growing in Melsetter and the Chimanimani Mountains. In young plants the leaves may be bristly. As they age they become elliptically oblong and 5 cm long by 2.5 cm wide. The upper side is glossy deep green while the underside is yellowish green with serrated leaf margins that appear more frequently at the end of the branches. The up to 8 cm wide, purple, violet veined shell flowers with ciliated margins and outstanding golden yellow stamens appear singly or in small clusters at the end of the shoots.