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| Category: Vine |
| Family: Bignoniaceae (Bignonias) |
| Origin: Australia (Australasia) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: Cream & Red |
| Bloomtime: Spring |
| Synonyms: [P. pandorana 'Delicado', Tecoma doratoxylon] |
| Height: Climbing (Vine) |
| Width: Spreading |
| Exposure: Sun or Shade |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Medium Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 20-25° F |
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Pandorea doratoxylon (Western Wonga Wonga Vine) – An evergreen fine textured non-twining vine or shrub with small dark green divided leaves that are bronze tinged when first emerging. The ¾ inch wide tubular cream colored flowers with flared petals and reddish-brown markings on the interior looking like small foxgloves that are held on pendulous sprays over a long period from early spring. A nice delicate vine for covering a fence or on a trellis. Will grow in sun or shade but flowers best with at least part day sun. Give occasional garden irrigation. Hardy to 25 F. We believe we got this plant mistagged Podranea brycei at a Huntington Garden Plant sale in the 1980s and was later planted on a fence in the nursery garden. It was a bit of a mystery for years until we found a painting of it in Patricia Weare's book A Collection of Australian Wildflower Illustrations described as the variable western strain of Pandorea pandorana. To distinguish it from other Wonga Wonga vines in the nursery trade, including the yellow flowering cultivar Pandorea pandorana 'Golden Showers' that we also grow, we had dubbed this plant Pandorea pandorana 'Delicado' for its delicate foliage. Kathy Musial, curator at the Huntington Botanic Garden saw this entry and informed us that this plant is Pandorea doratoxylon with Huntington accession number HBG 53535 from plants grown from seed received from Nindethana Seed Company in Australia in 1985. She also noted that they offered both it and Podranea byrcei at plant sales in the 1980s a possibly labels got switched then. Pandorea doratoxylon is called the Western Wonga Wonga vine, which matches the common name used in Weare's book and this species has been synonymized in the past with P. pandorana, but is currently thought to now be a distinct species. Pandorea doratoxylon comes from coastal plains and nearby slopes to Lake Eyre and Northwestern South Australia. It was first described as Tecoma doratoxylon in 1927 by the Scottish botanist John McConnell Black, who immigrated to Australia and authored of the Flora of South Australia. It was transferred to the genus Pandorea in 1937. The name for the genus is from Pandora of Greek mythology, who was the first mortal woman sent to earth by the gods - the name is derived from the Greek words 'Pan' meaning "all" and 'doran' meaning 'gift'. The French botanist Edouard Spach first used the name to describe the genus in 1840 reportedly because the fruit, a capsule with numerous brown winged seeds, somehow reminded him of Pandora’s Box. The specific epithet is from the Greek words 'doratos' meaning a "spear" and 'xylon' meaning "wood" in reference to the use of the wood by the indigenous Australian people to make spears from its wood and for this reason another common name for this plant is Spearwood. The flexible stems were straightened and strengthened by heating and a spear head, often made from Mulga, Acacia aneura, was a attached.
The information that is presented on this page is based on research we have conducted about this plant in our library and from reliable online sources. We also consider observations we have made of it in the nursery's garden and in other gardens we have visited, as well how it performs in our nursery crops out in the field. We incorporate comments that we receive from others as well and welcome getting feedback from anyone who may have additional information, particularly if they know of cultural information that would aid others in growing Pandorea doratoxylon. |
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