coleus

Coleus barbatus (Andrews) Benth. ex G.Don

Coleus barbatus is a semisucculent shrub or subshrub in the mint family. Its floral architecture is particularly distinctive: loose clusters carry blue to purple blossoms, each with a bent tube and two markedly unequal lips. The lower lip is much longer and forms a hood around the stamens. This is a flowering species with its own identity, rather than a generic description of the brightly patterned bedding plants also called coleus. Kew POWO: Coleus barbatusKew floristic accounts: Coleus barbatus

Wear coleus: explore the botanical t-shirt

Botanical name

Kew accepts Coleus barbatus (Andrews) Benth. ex G.Don; the supplied author citation is abbreviated. Plectranthus barbatus is its synonym. Kew POWO: Coleus barbatus

Recognizing the plant

Flora of Tropical East Africa describes flower whorls commonly containing ten to fourteen blossoms. The corolla can measure roughly seven to twenty-six millimetres, and the staminal filaments are joined. Mature fruits divide into small brown or black nutlets; these become mucilaginous when wet, an easily missed detail in an otherwise conspicuous plant. Kew floristic accounts: Coleus barbatus

Bloom window

Dhofar, Oman

The Flora of Oman treatment records flowering and fruiting in September and October in Dhofar. Kew floristic accounts: Coleus barbatus

Native range

Kew places its native distribution from northeastern into eastern Africa, through the Arabian Peninsula, and from the Indian subcontinent toward south-central China. In southern Oman it grows on rocky escarpments, cliffs and summit grassland. Kew POWO: Coleus barbatusKew floristic accounts: Coleus barbatus