''Schizanthus pinnatus'', called butterfly flower or poor man's orchid, names it shares with other members of its genus, is a species of plant in the genus ''

Schizanthus ''Schizanthus'' , also called butterfly flower, fringeflower, poor-man's-orchid, is a genus of plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. They are annual or biennial herbaceous plants, with attractive flowers and they belong to the subfamily ...

'' in the

nightshade The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orna ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Solanaceae The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orn ...

, native to Chile and naturalized elsewhere. It 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 (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

as an ornamental.

Description

It is an annual plant of 20 to 50 cm in height, glandulous-pubescent, with pinnatisect leaves 2.5 to 3 cm in length, divided into 6 to 8 pairs in oblong-linear segments, entire or separated. The flowers are white, pink or violet, 2 to 3 cm in diameter, arranged in

paniculate A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s, sometimes

dichotomous A dichotomy is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simultan ...

. The fruit is a globular boll of approximately 5 mm length. It is commonly known as the "small butterfly" ("mariposita") or "small, white butterfly" ("mariposita blanca").Dimitri, M. 1987. Enciclopedia Argentina de Agricultura y Jardinería. Volume I. Descripción de plantas cultivadas. Publisher ACME S.A.C.I., Buenos Aires.C. Muñoz. 1965
El desierto florido
Notic. Mensual MNHN 10 (111): 1-8Karl Reiche, Reiche K.
Volume 5-241-409
/ref>

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2623094 Solanaceae Endemic flora of Chile Garden plants of South America Plants described in 1798