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Roldana cristobalensis (Red Leaved Velvet Senecio) - Evergreen, tall shrub-like perennial that can grow to 10' tall with large velvety leaves up to 8" wide. The orbicular leaves are lobed and have prominent red veins and red undersides. Large clusters of yellow flowers appear in winter (January-February in Santa Barbara).
Plant in full sun along coast to morning sun or afternoon shade inland. It is hardy to low 20s° F but it can freeze down in the teens and rebound. Similar to Roldana petasitis but with darker foliage and red hairs on stems and undersides of leaves.
Roldana cristobalensis is a shrubby member of the Groundsel group of the daisy family (Asteraceae) from the mountainous areas of Oaxaca and Chiapas Mexico. Both this species and Roldana petasites, which we also grow, were previously classified as species of Senecio and originally this one was call Senecio listed as a subspecies of cristobalensis but is now considered to be Roldana oaxacana but we continue to use the older name under which we received the plant until such time as Roldana oaxacana becomes more recognized. The name Roldana was published by Dr. Pablo de La Llave (1773 – 1833), a Mexican priest and naturalist, in 1925 to honor Eugenio Montaña y Roldan Otumbensi, who was thought to be a hero in a battle on the plains of Apam near Mexico City.
This plant and the closely related Roldana petasitis as well as Roldana aschenborniana that we also grow were moved from Senecio to the genus Roldana in 1972 by Smithsonian botanists Harold Ernest Robinson and Robert D. Brettell in their "Studies in the Senecionae (Asteraceae): The Genera Psacaliopsis, Barkleyanthus, Telanthophora and Roldana" in Phytologia 27: 420 (1974). This same paper constructed the new genus Telanthophora.
Roldana cristobalensis was is a Dennis Breedlove introduction into the California nursery trade from a plant collected in Chiapas Mexico We received our stock plant from Dylan Hannon, curator of the conservatory at the Huntington Botanic Gardens, grew and sold it from 2002 until 2014.
The information about Roldana cristobalensis that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.
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