Thursday, December 17, 2009

Plant profile: Leonotis leonorus

Leonotis leonurus is in the genus Leonotis which consists of about 40 species of plants. Aside from that, there's not a lot to be found out about the plant online, nor have I seen them available for sale locally. It's such a striking plant that I find this odd; perhaps it has some evil tendencies that I'm not aware of.... yet.

Latin name: Leonotis leonurus
Common name: Lion's Tail, Wild Dagga
Originally from: All but one species, Leonotis nepetifolia (native to both tropical Africa and southern India), are native to southern Africa.
Blooms: Covered in frills of orange tubular flowers. It's quite a sight!
Light: Full sun to light shade
Water: Drought tolerant!
Zone: 8 to 11
 Where to see in P. Garden: We have one in the middle back bed, and one in the brights bed.

The most common use for the plant utilizes the picked and dried leaves brewed as a tea, which is said to be quite relaxing. One experimental study suggested that "the aqueous leaf extract of L. leonurus possesses antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and hypoglycemic properties; thus lending pharmacological credence to folk usage of the herb in the management and/or control of painful, arthritic, and other inflammatory conditions, as well as for adult-onset, type-2 diabetes mellitus in some communities of South Africa."

This plant is a big hit with hummingbirds, bees and butterflies, and is fast growing and is frost hardy. Ours went from a little rooted cutting Leah gave us back in Spring to a 5' tall and 4' wide clump in one season! I'll be moving ours a bit further back in the bed at some point, at which time I hope to divide it - they do get quite tall. Plants should be cut right back at the end of winter - ours is still flowering away madly in December so it will be a while before this gets a haircut.

4 comments:

  1. What a star! And flowering in December!

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  2. Hi does your leonotis come back the following year or does it die dur to the winner and need to be replaced? Does it self sow? Thanks for your kind reply

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here in SF it is a perennial evergreen - it does not die down but we do cut it back quite hard each year and it sprouts a new fresh set of branches annually. It's hardy zone 8 to 11

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