Pyrostegia venusta


Pyrostegia venusta, also commonly known as flamevine or orange trumpetvine, is a plant species of the genus Pyrostegia of the family Bignoniaceae originally endemic to southern Brazil, Bolivia, northeastern Argentina and Paraguay, but now a well-known garden species. The species was first described by John Miers in 1863.

Etymology

"Pyrostegia" from the Greek pyros means 'fire', relating to the colour of the flowers and the shape of the upper lip, and stegia means 'covering'. When the flowers cover the roof, it looks like it's on fire. Venusta means 'beautiful', 'charming', or 'graceful'.

Description

It is an evergreen, vigorously expanding climber that reaches up to 5 m in height. The foliage is made up of green leaves that have 2 to 3 leaflets, opposite, 4 to 8 cm long and with 3-branched tendrils.
The orange flowers, which appear from winter to spring, are arranged in dense bouquets and are 5 to 9 cm long. They are pollinated by hummingbirds. The fruits are smooth 3 dm long brown capsules.

Cultivation

The plant is very sensitive to cold winds and prefers sunny, sheltered locations. Frost hardiness zones is 9–11. It is resistant to soil salinity. The plant has powerful twiners which will cling to almost anything, including bare brick walls. It is a very fast grower and therefore should be pruned to forestall it from growing out of control and suffocating proximate plants. It can be grown from semi-hardwood cuttings taken in summer, autumn or winter.
It is naturalised in eastern Australia, eastern Africa and south-eastern USA.