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| Category: Shrub |
| Family: Lamiaceae (Labiatae) (Mints) |
| Origin: Himalaya Mountain Region (Asia) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: Orange Red |
| Bloomtime: Summer/Fall |
| Height: 4-6 feet |
| Width: 3-4 feet |
| Exposure: Sun or Shade |
| Summer Dry: Yes |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 10-15° F |
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Colquhounia coccinea (Himalayan mint shrub) - A woolly upright growing evergreen subshrub with a woody base below soft herbaceous stems that can grow to 6 feet tall or more but is easily kept lower and slowly suckering to form a wide patch. It has oppositely arranged 4 to 6 inch long ovate mid green colored leaves with crenulate margins and felty, gray-green undersides that are lightly aromatic when bruised. In late summer and fall appear the 1 inch long yellow throated dark orange flowers clustered in terminal racemes and in whorls around the leaves near the stem tips of the currents years growth. Plant in a well-drained soil in full sun to part shade and water frequently to only occasionally - has proven to grow well in half day sun with infrequent irrigation in our Santa Barbara garden. It is hardy to 10-15° F and useful in USDA Zones 8 to 10 - in our near frost free location it is evergreen but can be a deciduous shrub in colder locations. A great looking plant for its foliage with the late season orange flowers a bonus. Looks best when planted within other plants to hide its bare lower stems and with an annual spring pruning that keeps the plant a more manageable 4 to 6 feet in height and the form tight and attractive. This plant hails from the Himalayas in Nepal, northern India, and Bhutan south into southwestern China, Myanmar and Thailand where it can be found growing from 4,500 to 9,800 feet in diverse habitats including on stony or grassy slopes, in river valleys and in the forest understory. It is commonly called Himalayan Mint Shrub or Scarlet-flowered Colquhounia. The Danish botanist and surgeon Dr. Nathaniel Wallich named the genus for his friend Sir Robert Colquhoun (1786-1838) of Scotland, who was a lieutenant in the British Indian Army residing in Nepal and an avid plant collector and patron of the Calcutta Botanic Garden. The specific epithet is from the Latin word 'coccineus' meaning scarlet for the color of the flower on some of this species, but our particular form is more of an reddish orange color. This plant was in cultivation in England prior to 1850 when it included in the Curtis Botanic Magazine>/i> Volume 76 and has been in cultivation in the US since the early 1900s. Our plants grown from cuttings off our garden specimen that we purchase at the 1990 Huntington Botanic Garden Plant Sale.
This information about Colquhounia coccinea displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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