Agapetes

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Agapetes serpens - Berlin Botanical Garden - IMG 8741.JPG


Plant Characteristics
Habit   shrub

Lifespan: perennial
Cultivation
Scientific Names

Ericaceae >

Agapetes >


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Agapetes is a semi-climbing shrub genus native to the Himalayas, grown as an ornamental for its attractive pendulous benches of red tubular flowers blooming over a long period. It is mostly grown in climates from cool temperate to sub-tropical. Propagation is from cuttings.


Read about Agapetes in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 

Agapetes (Greek agapetos, beloved or lovable, referring to the beauty of the plant). Ericaceae, subfamily Vaccinioideae. Shrubs sometimes cultivated for their handsome flowers and attractive foliage.

Evergreen plants, often epiphytic and with the sts. thickened at the base: lvs. alternate, or irregularly whorled, short-petioled or sessile, entire or slightly toothed: fls. in axillary fascicles or short racemes, rarely solitary; calyx-tube turbinate, with 5-lobed limb; corolla tubular to campanulate, with 5, usually curved lobes; stamens 10, with short filaments, anthers produced into 2 long beaks opening at the apex by a pore or slit; ovary 5-celled, inferior: fr. a juicy or dry berry with many seeds.—About 30 species from the southern Himalayas to N. Austral., chiefly in the humid mountain forests at elevations of 3,000-6,000 ft.

The several species in cultivation arc highly ornamental shrubs with handsome lustrous foliage and showy usually scarlet or bright red clustered flowers. They are sometimes grown in warm greenhouses in Europe, but apparently none of them is in the American trade. They grow best in a porous soil consisting of peat, leaf-mold, fibrous loam and plenty of sand; the smaller kinds are suitable for growing in baskets on account of their epiphytic nature. Out-of-doors they could be grown only in warmer temperate regions, in localities in which the air possesses sufficient humidity and in partial shade.

Propagation is by cuttings of half-ripened wood under glass in the warm greenhouse.

A. buxifolia, Nutt. Branches and calyx hairy: lvs. obovate-cuneate. crenately serrate, glabrous, about 1 in. long: fls. axillary, 1-2, cylindric, bright red with spreading lobes. Himalayas. —A. glabra, Clarke (Thibaudia glabra, Griff.). Glabrous: lvs. oblong-lanceolate, rounded at the base, sometimes elliptic, obscurely crenate, about 5 in. long: fls. several, axillary, tubular, ventricose below the middle, 3/4in. long, white, greenish toward the apex, pink at the base. Himalayas.—A. macrantha, Benth. &, Hook. (Thibaudia macrantha, Hook.). Plant glabrous: lvs. lanceolate, long'acuminate, 3-4 in. long: fls. in 2-3-fld. clusters, outside of the axils, pendulous, urceolate, 5-ribbed. 2 in. long, yellowish white, marked with red wavy transverse lines. E.India.—A. Moorei, Hemsl. Lvs. oblong-lanceolate, usually whorled at the end of the branches, entire, glabrous, 2-3 1/2 in. long: fls. in short axillary, 6-9-fld. racemes, cylindric, scarlet or orange-red, 1 1/2 in. long, lobes reflexed, narrow, yellow within. Himalayas.—A. setigera., D. Don (Thibaudia setigera, Wall.). Lvs. oblong or lanceolate, about 4 in. long, usually whorled: fls. in lateral clusters, deep red, usually hairy, 3/4in. long; pedicels and calyx hairy. Himalayas. Wight Icon. 1180, 1181 (as Vaccinium verticillatum and V. Wallichianum).— A. speciosa, Hemsl. Glabrous: lvs. ovate-oblong, subcordate at the base, slightly serrulate, 3—4 in. long: fls. 3-6, axillary, cylindric-urceolate, 5-ribbed, deep crimson, 1 1/2 in. long. Probably from Burma.—A. variegata, D. Don (Thibaudia pulcherrima, Wall. A. pulcherrima. Benth. & Hook.). Tall shrub, glabrous: lvs. elliptic-lanceolate, 6-8 in. long: fls. on the old wood in many-fld. dense clusters, cylindric-campanulate, 5-angled, pale red marked dark red, 1 in. long. Himalayas.


The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.


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