Lapageria rosea 'Caupolican' (Cow-Po-Le-Can)

New in 2008 to my collection this has deep red flowers. Like all Lapageria needs cool moist acid soil in shade, absolutely hates direct sun for any length of time, although the top of the plant will be happy if the lower part is shaded. The flowers are waxy bells and it is in flower from July through to March. Due to its flowering period and the fact that new growth can be frost damaged it needs a sheltered place (min -8c) or grow it down the shady end of the conservatory.

 'Caupolican'  is the named after the 16th century Mapuche Indian chief who lead Indian resistance to the Spanish invaders in Chile, it is also known in Spanish as "Piedras Preciosa" or Precious Stones, My plant came from  Berkeley Botanic garden in California,

This took a while to settle down but is now starting to flower well for me, flowers are larger and more flared than a typical seedling red, it also has distintively fat buds

The species comes from Chile; the majority of wild plants have cherry red flowers with occasional pale pinks and whites. Introduced around 1847.