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Calothamnus quadrifidus 'Mystery Red' (One-sided Bottlebrush) - A medium-sized evergreen shrub to 5-7 feet tall with soft hairy pine-needle-like leaves and bright red flowers, which are actually bundles of four stamens known as staminal claws, from late winter to summer with sporadic bloom on to late fall. The flowers are borne on one side of stem that was the previous year's new growth.
Plant in full to partial sun and water infrequently. Tolerant of hot dry conditions, most any well-drained soil, coastal conditions (back from salt spray zone) and medium frost - listed hardy to 16 F. Good as a low screen. Foliage is great in flower arrangements and flowers attracts nectar feeding birds to the garden.
This plant showed up in a crop of seedling Calothamnus quadrifidus 'Yellow Form' and was separated out. I has shorter and thinner leaves than another cultivar of this species that we grow, Calothamnus quadrifidus 'Seaside' and we are not sure if this plant is possibly Calothamnus villosus or possibly Calothamnus sanquineus, which is does resemble. The name for the genus comes from the Greek word 'kalos' which means "beautiful" and 'thamnos' which means "a shrub" and the specific epithet means "divided into four parts" in reference to the staminal bundles.
The information displayed on this page about Calothamnus quadrifidus 'Mystery Red' 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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