Family: Gesneriaceae
Common Name: Lipstick Plant or Vine

Native to India, Asia and New Guinea, this genus comprises over 100 species of epiphytic subshrubs or vines. The showy, funnel-shaped flowers come in shades of red, orange and creamish green. The fleshy, mostly elliptical-shaped leaves are sometimes leathery to the touch and generally appear in whorls of three or four.

Species

A. bracteatus, from India and the Himalayas, has clusters of red flowers.

A. ellipticus is from New Guinea. The leaves are dark green, the stems are densely covered in red hairs and the flowers are salmon pink, covered with darker pink hairs.

A. lobbianus, from Indonesia, has trailing dark green leaves and bright red flowers with purple calyces.

A. pulcher, red bugle vine or lipstick plant, from Java, has purplish-edged leaves and bright red flowers.

A. speciosus, from Borneo and Malaysia, has clusters of large orange-red flowers at the ends of the branches.

Cultivation

Grow these tropical plants in hanging baskets of soilless compost in a warm greenhouse or conservatory, or as house plants. High humidity is needed together with shade from direct sun. Propagate by stem or root cutting or by division. The plant can also be grown from seed.

Climate

This genus is native to subtropical forests.