Ourisia coccinea
Ourisia coccinea (Cav.) Pers.
Ourisia coccinea, described by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in 1806, is a flowering plant in the Plantaginaceae family. It is native to the Andes in southern Chile and Argentina. This perennial herb has a rosette growth form with crenate leaves and produces up to 30 flowers on an erect raceme. The flowers feature a regular calyx and a red, tubular-funnelform corolla with two exserted and two included stamens. The species is divided into two allopatric subspecies, differentiated by leaf margins, hairs, and pedicel characteristics. It is commonly cultivated as an ornamental plant.
Description
Ourisia coccinea is a South American foxglove species in the Plantaginaceae family, found in mountainous regions of southern Chile and Argentina. The plant is perennial, with a hairy rosette structure and crenate leaves. Its inflorescence is a long, erect raceme bearing up to 30 flowers. Each flower has a hairy calyx with a mix of glandular and non-glandular hairs and a red, bilabiate corolla, typically hairless or with glandular hairs externally. The species is divided into two subspecies, distinguished by leaf edge and hair characteristics, as well as pedicel hairs. O. coccinea is widely grown for ornamental purposes.
Distribution
Argentina South · Chile Central · Chile South
Synonyms
Dichroma coccineum
