Sliperwort


1 entry found.
Picture of Sliperwort Sliperwort
Common Name: Pocketbook Plant, Sliperwort, Poor Man's Orchid, Pouch Flower
Botanical Name: Calceolaria crenatiflora (kal-se-oh-LAY-ree-a)
Decorative Life: Generally only looks good under many commonly encountered interior conditions for 1 or 2 weeks.
Post Harvest Care:
  • This species is not one of the better performing plants under interior conditions due mainly to too warm temperatures and too low light.
Family Roots:
  • Member of the Scrophulariaceae (figwort family).
  • Native from Mexico to the Andes of Peru and Chile.
  • Common relatives include snapdragon, Veronica, Digitalis and Penstemon.
Personality:
  • Classed as a dicotyledon, leaves not parallel veined.
  • Flowers with petals united into inflated pouches, in loose clusters at stem ends.
  • Stems leafy, 4-6 inches tall.
Availability: Year-round.
Flower Color: Yellow, red, spotted with bronze or orange.
Tidbits:
  • The specific epithet name crenatiflora means scalloped-flowers.
  • Genus name from the Latin "calceolus" meaning slipper, in reference to the shape of the lower lip of the flower.
  • Many species in this 3000 plus species family are grown for ornamental and medicinal purposes including slipperwort, speedwell, mullein, bearded-tongue, foxglove, snapdragon, toadflax, monkey-flower, cape-fuchsia, coral-plant, nemesia, and blue-lips.
  • Requires high light levels (>200 ft-c.) under interior conditions.