''Escallonia rubra'', called redclaws and red escallonia, is a species in the family

Escalloniaceae Escalloniaceae is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 130 species in seven genera. In the APG II system it is one of eight families in the euasterids II clade (campanulids) that are unplaced as to order. More recent research has prov ...

which is native to southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and neighboring areas of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Description

''Escallonia rubra'' is a spreading shrub usually 0.8 to 1.0m tall, but can reach a height of 3.6m. It features glossy, elliptical, serrate evergreen leaves. The upper side is glossy and dark green, while the lower side is much lighter. The bark is first red and rough-haired, which later turns brown and dotted, and eventually gray and cracked. The buds are scattered and oval with finely serrated edge on the outer half. The

root system In mathematics, a root system is a configuration of vectors in a Euclidean space satisfying certain geometrical properties. The concept is fundamental in the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras, especially the classification and representatio ...

is stringy and somewhat weak in the first years. Later, strong main roots are formed, which lie high in the ground. The pink to crimson trumpet-shaped flowers bloom in July to October in the Northern Hemisphere. The prominent, maroon to red

hypanthia In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It o ...

are campanulate with acute apices, leading to the common name redclaws. The flowers sit in short clusters from the leaf corners. The petals are fused into a short tube. The fruits are capsules.

Occurrence

The shrub occurs on the slopes of the Andes Mountains in

southern Chile Southern Chile is an informal geographic term for any place south of the capital city, Santiago, or south of Biobío River, the mouth of which is Concepción, about {{convert, 200, mi, km, sigfig=1, order=flip south of Santiago. Generally cities ...

and Argentina all the way down to

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

, where it grows in scrub and open forest, among other biomes.

Cultivation

Cultivated as a garden and hedging plant, it has become naturalized in western Europe, Oregon in the United States, and New Zealand, and is considered invasive in places. It is grown in many other areas, such as Australia. Its cultivar 'Crimson Spire' has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

's Award of Garden Merit.

Varieties

A number of varieties have been described, some of which may still be accepted, depending on the authority. *''E. rubra'' var. ''albiflora'' Hosseus *''E. rubra'' var. ''albiflora'' Poepp. & Endl. *''E. rubra'' var. ''dumetorum'' (Phil.) Acevedo & Kausel *''E. rubra'' var. ''glutinosa'' Reiche *''E. rubra'' var. ''macrantha'' Reiche *''E. rubra'' var. ''thalassica'' Kausel

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q12334111 rubra Flora of southern South America Plants described in 1805