Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Acanthaceae
Genus: Mackaya
Species: M. bella
Scientific name: Mackaya bella
Synonym: Asystasia bella
Common names: Forest bell bush, River bell
Mackaya bella is an evergreen shrub that occurs naturally in the Eastern Cape, Kwazulu Natal, Swaziland and Northern Province in forests, often along the edges of streams.
Mackaya bella has slender branches and grows > 2 m in height.. The dark green leaves are simple, opposite, elliptic and have undulating margins.
During spring and early summer it produces terminal racemes of funnel-shaped flowers. The flowers are mauve to white with the petals having fine purple-pink lines. The seeds are produced in loculicidal capsules.
Photographed at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
