Deppea splendens

photo:
BotanicalGems.com

One of the rarest plants in cultivation, Deppea splendens has an amazing story of luck behind it. In 1981 Dennis Breedlove collected seed of this plant from the only known population in the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico. He distributed the seed to several botanical gardens, including the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. In 1986 Breedlove returned to Chiapas to find that the area had been cleared by local corn farmers and that no Deppeas were to be located. Now considered to be extinct in the wild, Deppea splendens only survives from the seed that was brought back in 1981. A member of the coffee family, Deppea splendens has beautiful flowers that make it a very desirable plant to have in your garden. Hanging from impossibly thin, wiry flower stems are clusters of long tubular yellow flowers that emerge from red sepels. Blooms in late Summer & Fall. The plant itself has crisp green foliage that is somewhat textured & tropical looking. The plant gets to be around 6-8’ tall and 4-5’ wide, although it reached much taller proportions in its native habitat. Needs some shade and frost protection. These are clones from the population at the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. A very special plant!

Kelly Kilpatrick
Propagator