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Tecomanthe burungu (Roaring Meg Creek Trumpet Vine) - Vigorous evergreen subtropical twining climber reaching to 30 feet with support with trifoliate leaves having 2- to 3-inch-long dark green glossy leaflets and clusters of 8 to 12 rose pink 2 to 3 inch long pendant trumpet to bell shaped flowers in late spring into early summer. Flowers emerge from stem nodes as well as from older wood.
Plant in full to part sun and irrigate regularly to occasionally. Though from tropical northern Queensland Australia this plant is hardy to short duration temperatures down to at least 30 °F and it also tolerates near seashore exposure. Though little known in cultivation in California, this plant is so attractive that it really needs to be planted in coastal California gardens where it should thrive.
Tecomanthe burungu is native to lowland, upland and mountain rain forests in northeastern Queensland Australia from near sea level to 3,200 feet. It was first discovered in 1980 near Roaring Meg Creek, just below Mount Pieter Botte in the Queensland Tableland Logging Area and was recorded in the Australian Plant Census in 2010 as Tecomanthe sp. Roaring Meg. It was in cultivation in Australia with this name until being formally described in 2018 by Frank Zich and Andrew Ford in Australian Systematic Botany in an article titled "Tecomanthe burungu (Bignoniaceae), a new species from northern Queensland". The name for the genus comes from similarities to Tecoma, a genus name that is a word Latinized from the vernacular native Mexican Nahuatl language name tecomaxochitl and then combined with the Latin 'anthos' meaning flower and the specific epithet comes from the name of an kinship group of the aboriginal people in the Queensland area of Australia. We received our initial stock plant from the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum in May 2022.
The information displayed on this page about Tecomanthe burungu is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We 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.
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