Friday, December 26, 2008

Dombeya wallichii

This is one of my favorite holiday bloomers! We call it Tropical Hydrangea here and it puts on a show just like real Hydrangea spp. It has a nice fragrance too, it smells like buttery popcorn! All in all this is a first rate small tree.





Family: Malvaceae •
Genus: Dombeya •
Species: wallichii •
Country of Origin: Madagascar •
Common Names: Tropical Hydrangea, Pink Tassel Dombeya, Pink Ball •

This is an evergreen shrub or tree to 20 feet and grows in zones 10-11. Large green hairy leaves are 8-12 inches long and I've seen even larger on my plant. The flowers are borne in large clusters are typically pink and highly fragrant. They also attract a million bees to the yard. Not recommended for those with allergies to bees. This is a durable plant that tolerates many soils and light conditions. Blooms in the winter in Florida.

here is the University of Florida page
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ST232

Creative Commons License
Dombeya wallichii
by Eric Bronson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.flickr.com

2 comments:

Eric Bronson said...

Robert, I tried to respond by email but it wouldn't go through. Anyway this plant can be propagated by cuttings or air-layering. It is readily available in South Florida. If you can't find a vendor let me know and I'll direct you to a local source.

Anonymous said...

Oh, she is a beauty....Wish I had one....