The genus Achimenes, belongs to the family Gesneriaceae. Its common name is Magic flowers. These are low growing fleshy herb with showy tubular flowers at tips of shoots. They prefer part shade and humidity, good in hanging baskets. Propagate by division of rhizomes.
Culture
Keep moist at all times, fertilise regularly, susceptible to thrip and red spider mite, provide plenty of humidity leading up to flowering, reduce watering after flowering.
Cultivars
A. candida - reddish stems, serrated leaves, flowers purple-spotted throat with white and yellow petals.
A. x hybrida - slender stems that creep horizontally then bend upwards. Many flowers over summer and autumn. Variety of flower colour forms available.
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