Kingdom: Plantae
Unranked): Angiosperms
(Unranked): Eudicots
(Unranked): Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Bignoniaceae
Genus: Podranea
Species: P. ricasoliana
Botanical name: Podranea ricasoliana
Synonyms: Pandorea ricasoliana, Tecoma mackenii, Tecoma ricasoliana, Bignonia rosea,
Common Names: Pink Trumpet Vine, Port St. Johns Creeper, Zimbabwe Creeper, Queen of Sheba, Port John’s Creeper, Port St Johns-klimop.
Podranea ricasoliana is a vigorous evergreen, woody, rambling, hairless dicotyledonous liane without tendrils, originally from the mouth of the Mzimvubu River at Port St Johns, roughly halfway between East London and Durban on the Eastern Cape coast, South Africa.
The leaves are compound and a deep glossy green. It sends up many tall strong stems, 3 to 5 m up to 10+ m high with a long spreading arching habit. The leaflets are 20-70 mm long, long-oval and serrated, the larger leaves (50-90 mm long) are on strong vegetative shoots. During December to May, it produces 80 mm trumpet-shaped flowers. They are pink with rose red veins, especially inside the tube.
Podranea ricasoliana reproduces mainly by layering as it tends not to produce many fertile seeds. The fruit is a long, narrow, straight, flattened capsule. The seeds are brown, ovate and flat, in a large rectangular papery wing.
In several areas of New Zealand, this garden escapee is classed by local councils as a weed as its dense masses of foliage and branches tend to smother surrounding vegetation.
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
