Pseuderanthemum variabile

Pseuderanthemum variabile
Pseuderanthemum variabile flowering in a Blackbutt forest at Chatswood West, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Acanthaceae
Genus:	Pseuderanthemum
Species:	P. variabile
Binomial name
Pseuderanthemum variabile (R.Br.) Radlk.

Pseuderanthemum variabile is a species of plant in the Acanthaceae family. Its natural habitat is the floor of rainforest or wet eucalyptus forest of northern and eastern Australia, north of Bega, New South Wales. Common names include night and afternoon, pastel flower and love flower.

Description

It is a ground cover, up to 30 cm high, with hairy stems.

Leaves are from 2 to 7 cm wide and up to 4 cm wide, lanceolate to ovate in shape. Sometimes a hard mineral deposit occurs on the leaves. The base of the leaf can be purple and dotted with glands.

The violet-sized flowers appear between November and May, and can be white, lilac, purple or blue, often with spots near the middle. Occasionally the flowers do not open and are self fertilising. The fruit is a capsule, sometimes hairy.

Uses

In the garden, it makes an attractive ground cover for shady areas. It is the food plant for caterpillars of a number of butterflies in the family Nymphalidae, including Doleschallia bisaltide, Hypolimnas alimena, Hypolimnas bolina, Hypolimnas misippus and Junonia orithya.