Description
(syn. wabuensis, omeiensis)
A high altitude species from China with narrow hanging bells in spring on stems barely clothed in narrow leaves. The flowers are in the form of elongated bells with turned-in petals at the mouth.
The colouring is unusual the bells being yellowish on the outside, dusted with a grapey “bloom” whilst inside they are spotted with deep red-brown with a reddish band at the mouth. The colour is darker than “red and yellow” but that was certainly my first impression when I first became aware of this lovely species, from which, incidentally, the delightfully named alkaloid wabuenine is extracted.
Light or half shade (or potted) in a well-drained, but moisture retentive, compost. Short dry period in summer.
