Escallonia rubra (Ruiz & Pav.) Pers.
red escallonia
Densely branched shrub up to 2-(4) m high; twigs with stalked glands, and densely clothed in short, simple erect hairs, striate, viscid; older branches with grey, peeling bark. Lvs on younger branches but persisting on older wood, elliptic to broadly elliptic or broadly obovate, 2.5-9 × 1.5-4.5 cm, mostly acute, rarely some obtuse, serrate, tapering to short petiole, glabrous and shining above, aromatic; lower surface somewhat dull, pale green, with gland dots and conspicuous veins. Infls terminal, small, loose, paniculate. Calyx densely glandular, usually also with simple hairs; lobes c. 3 mm long, triangular, glandular. Corolla red or pink, 12-18 mm diam.; petals erect, forming a tube c. 6-10 mm long; limbs 3-5 mm long, spreading. Ovary disc narrowly conic; style 7-10 mm long. Capsule obovoid, 3-5 mm long.
N.: occasional in exposed situations, particularly near Auckland and Wellington, inland at Taihape; S.: Cape Foulwind, Westport, Bluff; St.: Halfmoon Bay area.
Chile 1922
Rocky cliffs, banks, forest margins, wasteland, generally near the sea.
FL Oct-May.
This attractive and colourful shrub is widely grown in gardens, particularly as a hedge in exposed coastal localities. It is a persistent garden relict. Naturalised material is referable to var. macrantha (Hook. et Arn.) Reiche, often treated as a distinct sp., E. macrantha Hook. et Arn. The hybrid E. × exoniensis is distinguished from it by the smaller, less viscid lvs and the white to pink fls.
