An evergreen shrub of bushy habit growing 6 to 15 ft high in a wild state, all the parts more or less downy. The leaves are very variable in shape; on the leafy shoots they are 1 to 2 in. long, deeply lobed at the sides, dull green. On the flowering shoots they change to a much smaller size and become entire, boxlike, and 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long. The blossoms come in pendulous clusters of four to eight at the end of the shoot. Flowers 3 in. long, the long tubular base bright rose, with streaks of a darker hue; at the mouth are five spreading lobes, rich red and giving a diameter of 1 to 11⁄2 in.; they open in April and May. Bot. Mag., t. 4582.
This gorgeous shrub is a native of the Peruvian Andes and in most parts of the country requires greenhouse conditions. In the extreme south and west it can, however, be grown on a wall. I remember to have seen it in Lord St Leven’s garden on St Michael’s Mount and at Tregye in Cornwall. It is very well worth trying in any likely place. A wall of 6 to 8 ft high would suit it.