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Products > Stigmaphyllon littorale
 
Stigmaphyllon littorale - Orchid Vine
   
Image of Stigmaphyllon littorale
[2nd Image]
Habit and Cultural Information
Category: Vine
Family: Malpighiaceae (Malpighias)
Origin: South America
Evergreen: Yes
Flower Color: Yellow
Bloomtime: Summer
Synonyms: [Stigmaphyllon bonariense]
Height: Climbing (Vine)
Width: Running
Exposure: Full Sun
Irrigation (H2O Info): Medium Water Needs
Winter Hardiness: 25-30° F
Stigmaphyllon littorale (Orchid Vine) - Quick growing, large evergreen vine with broad ovate light green colored tomentose leaves that is covered intermittently with clusters of bright, airy, yellow flowers in the summer.

Plant in full sun to part shade with regular irrigation. It is to most frost hardy of the Orchid Vines and we have had it sail through cold nights down to 25° F in our garden with others reporting it hardy to USDA zone 8b – down to 10° F. A large vine that can cover a fence or grow up into a tree. It is somewhat similar to more delicate Stigmaphyllon ciliatum, but with larger flower clusters and larger tomentose leaves that lack ciliate margins.

Stigmaphyllon littorale is found growing along the Rio Parana, Rio Uruguay and Rio Paragua and along Brazilian coastal areas. The genus name comes from the Latin words 'stigma' for the receptive apex of the pistil of a flower and 'phyla', meaning "leaf" for the leaf-like stigma in the genus. This plant is listed as a synonym of Stigmaphyllon bonariense in The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew database. This name change is based on the previous description of the species as Banisteria bonariensis by British botanist William Hooker and Scottish botanist George A. Walker-Arnott, whose date of publication of 1832 in Hooker's Botanical Miscellany, which was produced in parts from 1829 through 1833, was misinterpreted and should have taken precedence over the French botanist Adrien-Henri de Jussieu's description in Flora Brasiliae Meridionalis in 1833. We have retained the original name that we grew this plant under so not to confuse our customers or our staff.

We first started growing this plant in 2002 and grow the related Mascagnia macroptera which we received as a species of Stigmaphyllon, though it turns out that this plant's valid name is now Callaeum macropterum and we also continue to grow Stigmaphyllon ciliatum. These three plants seem confused in the nursery trade, so we have a comparison image showing these three plants together on our Mascagnia and Stigmaphyllon Comparison Page

Information displayed on this page about Stigmaphyllon littorale is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.

 
San Marcos Growers closed for regular business at the end of 2025 as the property is being developed for affordable housing.
While our gates remain closed, we will open them by appointment so we can liquidate remaining plants, supplies and equipment. The plants remaining in the field are listed on our Live Inventory Page.
 
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