Description
This can be quite a tall species, reaching from a normal 50 cm or so, up to 120 cm tall when robust or shaded. Despite its height it is a slender and very graceful species.
The stem sits with a decorative cartwheel whorl of leaves in the middle. Above this the flowers are borne in spikes of up to 12 and are a shade of orange-vermilion, the petals spotted with red-purple. Each bloom is out-facing and more or less flat-faced (with only the petal tips reflexed). The flowers are not symmetrical about themselves, something you will recognise when you see them.
Readily grown and a humus rich soil in half shade suits this admirably and it looks good growing through a small, open-structured shrub. Still a scarce plant in cultivation and seemingly it is poorly understood in botanical circles also.
