red shrimp plant

Description:

The popular shrimp plant grows in clumps of weak, twiggy stems that get 3-5 ft (1-1.5 m) tall, 3 ft (1 m) wide, and may spread to form a large colony. The branching stems are tipped by 6 in (15 cm) drooping spikes of dark red to rusty brown bracts, each bract enclosing a tounguelike white flower. Shrimp plant is evergreen in mild climates, and blooms almost continuously. The leaves are oval, light green and 2-3 in (5-8 cm) long. The young stems and the undersides of the leaves are soft and downy. There are cultivars with yellow bracts, bright red bracts, and others with lime green bracts. Location Justicia brandegeana is native to Mexico. It is often grown in tropical and subtropical gardens, and has escaped cultivation and naturalized in peninsular Florida.

Habitat:

native to Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Notes:

The species is named after the American botanist Townshend Stith Brandegee (1843-1925); the scientific name is commonly seen mis-spelled "brandegeana".