Plant in morning sun to light shade in a area that gets regular irrigation – do not allow to completely dry out. It is listed hardy to 30°F and we have not tested it to temperatures below this. This plant is very interesting with beautiful large flowers and is also used in Africa for many traditional herbal remedies.

The genus Brillantaisia has about 20 species that are distributed across tropical Africa and Madagascar with Brillantaisia nitens native to wet forests of tropical west Africa from Guinea south to West and East Cameroons. The genus was named for M. Brillantais-Marion who financed the research of the author of the name, the French naturalist Palisot de Beauvois. The specific epithet is the present participle of the Latin word 'nitere' meaning "to shine" and is a reference to the showy nature of this plant. The common name often given for this plant, Tropical Giant Salvia, is misleading as it is not even in the same family as Salvia, the Lamiaceae but in the Acanthaceae. We grew this stunning plant from 2009 to 2011 and thanks to artist and garden designer Marcia Donahue of Berkeley, CA for sharing this plant with us. We only stopped growing it as its lanky and somewhat brittle stems made it difficult to ship when in flower but we made certain to keep a plant in our collection because it was so beautiful. 

Information displayed on this page about Brillantaisia nitens 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.