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Originally distributed as Senecio Purple Leaf, other names are available! Clearly adapted to quite high light levels, it grew well in the Hedychium house for a couple of years,
reaching the roof quite rapidly. The larger leaves were occasionally burnt by radiation frost but in 2018 the 'beast from the east' froze it solid during March and it did not recover.
Cuttings root very easily, I could have protected one indoors but I had started to take it for granted. It's identity reains unconfirmed. It is fairly clearly a Roldana species and R. cristobalensis seems to be the best candidate. Recent revision of the genus has reduced its rank to R. patasitis var. cristobalensis though Kew accept it as a species. A post on gardenriots.com in 2019 says: "This naturally occurring variety has a more restricted range and was found and described from plants in Chiapas, the southern most Mexican state, and in Guatemala. At around 16ยบ north latitude, this puts the area well within the tropical band that wraps around the earth. Its mountain locations moderate its tropical location somewhat. This variety is found generally between 1,000m and 1,600m, lower than most of the other species and even lower than the other forms of this species, in mountain cloud forest. |
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| 30th August 2014 | ||
