Combretum rotundifolium

Family: Combretaceae •
Genus: Combretum •
Species: rotundifolium •
Country of Origin: South America •
Synonyms: Combretum aubletii •
Common Names: Monkey Brush •

This is one of my favorite vines. I picked this up at a Fairchild plant sale. It blooms in late winter/early spring here in South Florida. It has amazing flowers and stunning foliage. It is a semi-deciduous climber that can grow up to 20' without trimming. Monkey Brush does best with fertile well drained soil and thrives in areas like South Florida that have seasonal dry winters. Full to partial sun. The beautiful leaves change color as they mature from red to yellow and finally green, they are typically 5 to 6 inches long and roughly 2 to 3 inches wide. The flowers are red with long yellow stamens that turn orange then red and are about 6 to 8 inches long. This plant is cold sensitive and I lost a lot of leaves this year when it got down to into the thirties, but it is putting on new growth since it started warming up, and the cold didn't affect the flower buds that were forming. I'd highly recommend this vine to anyone who lives in a frost free area. Zones 10-11


Combretum rotundifolium 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