LEONOTIS leonurus

Unusual semi-deciduous perennial bush with rapid growth and expansive habit, belonging to the Lauriaceae family and native to South Africa, capable of reaching a minimum height of 1.5 m and almost the same width. Numerous erect, herbaceous stems with a typical quadrangular section rise from the woody and branched base, from which dark green leaflets, lanceolate and opposite, with slightly serrated margins come off. From the end of summer and until the first cold, the branches stretch quickly and are crowned by showy inflorescences formed by tubular flowers of a beautiful shade of orange arranged radially around a node of the stem and on several superimposed planes: slightly hairy , they can remember the tail of a lion, from which derives both the specific name and the popular one with which the plant is remembered.

It prefers sunny exposures and adapts to any type of soil as long as it is free from stagnant water. Little tolerant of prolonged cold, from which it defends itself by losing the leaves and perhaps the entire aerial part, it is instead resistant to salinity and, once set, also to summer drought, although occasional watering can support richer growth. Pruning interventions are to be performed in spring, eliminating ported or damaged parts and also decisively shortening the thin stems to encourage a more harmonious, dense development, and therefore also a more generous autumn flowering. Perfect in cultivation on terraces and balconies, in capacious containers, in the open ground in gardens with a Mediterranean flavor, alone or combined with other essences that are able to enhance its characteristic, original flowering, or even planted in succession to create 'fiery' borders.