Lamiaceae
The Lamiaceae ( )
or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...
(the mint or deadnettle family),
native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entert ...
to southeast Asia through to Australia. Typically growing to tall and wide, it is a bushy, woody-based evergreenperennial, widely grown for the highly decorative variegated leaves found in cultivated varieties. Another common name is painted nettle, reflecting its relationship to deadnettles ('' Lamium'' species), which are in the same family. (True nettles and their close kin are in the distant family Urticaceae.) The
synonyms
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
''Coleus blumei'', ''Plectranthus scutellarioides'' and ''Solenostemon scutellarioides'' are also widely used for this species.
Description
''Coleus scutellarioides'' is an upright annual or short-lived perennial plant. It may be as much as tall, with well-branched, more-or-less four-sided stems. Shorter, more trailing forms have sometimes been described as separate species, under names such as ''Coleus pumilus'' or ''Solenostemon pumilus'', but are all now considered part of the very variable ''C. scutellarioides''. The species is extremely variable in the colour and shape of the leaves. They are somewhat fleshy, varying in size from long by wide, generally
ovate
Ovate may refer to:
*Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts
*Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe
*Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd
*Vates
In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovat ...
in shape, and borne on petioles (stalks) from long. The leaf margin is divided to a variable degree. Hairs are present on both sides of the leaf.
The inflorescence is borne on the end of a stem and, like the leaves, is very variable in size; it may be up to long, with few or many flowers. The
calyx
Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to:
Biology
* Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...
is bell-shaped, initially only long, but lengthening to when in fruit. The bluish-purple
petal
Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...
s are joined to form a typical two-lipped
labiate
The Lamiaceae ( )
or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...
flower, long. The
stamen
The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
s are joined for about half their length and are covered by the upper lip of the flower. The fruit is described as a "nutlet", and is black, about long.
Pigmentation
The leaves of the wild species may be somewhat variegated, but this has been developed to an extreme degree in cultivated varieties, whose leaves may include one or more shades of green, white, cream, yellow, pink, red, maroon and dark purple. Green coloration is due to the amount of
chlorophyll
Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to a ...
present in the chloroplasts in the leaves. Red, purple, pink, and orange colors are due to anthocyanins – water-soluble, flavonoid biosynthetic pigments, found in the foliage in addition to chlorophyll. The increase in anthocyanin production is accompanied by a decrease in chlorophyll production. The production of anthocyanins and chlorophyll is affected by light levels; the more light is present, the more anthocyanins are produced, with an inverse relationship to the production of chlorophyll. Anthocyanins are created inside the cell and facilitate photosynthesis in leaves that are exposed to very intense or prolonged sunlight by providing protection from damage caused by ultraviolet light. Some coleus cultivars over-produce anthocyanins and under-produce chlorophyll to the extent that optimal growth is prevented.
Taxonomy
The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1763, as ''Ocimum scutellarioides''. The genus ''
Ocimum
''Ocimum'' is a genus of aromatic annual and perennial herbs and shrubs in the family Lamiaceae, native to the tropical and warm temperate regions of all 6 inhabited continents, with the greatest number of species in Africa. It is the genus of ...
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
Plectranthus
''Plectranthus'' is a genus of about 85 species of flowering plants from the sage family, Lamiaceae, found mostly in southern and tropical Africa and Madagascar. Common names include spur-flower. ''Plectranthus'' species are herbaceous perennia ...
'' in 1810. George Bentham transferred it to the genus ''Coleus'' as ''Coleus scutellarioides'' in 1830, and in 1832 also described ''Coleus blumei'', now regarded as just a variant of this species. Placement in the genus ''Coleus'' led to the name "coleus", still widely used by horticulturalists and gardeners, and now treated as a
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...
for this species. It was transferred to ''Solenostemon'' by
Leslie E. W. Codd
Leslie may refer to:
* Leslie (name), a name and list of people with the given name or surname, including fictional characters
Families
* Clan Leslie, a Scottish clan with the motto "grip fast"
* Leslie (Russian nobility), a Russian noble family ...
in 1975.
A major phylogenetic study of the subtribe Plectranthinae in 2018 showed that the genus ''Plectranthus'', as then
circumscribed
In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius.
Not every polyg ...
, was not
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
, and the authors proposed re-instating ''Coleus'', then wholly submerged in ''Plectranthus''. A summary cladogram for the subtribe Plectranthinae, based on the 2018 study, was published in 2019, along with names in ''Coleus'' for all the species recognized in that genus. In the version of the cladogram below, the three genera that formed part of ''Plectranthus''
s.l.
SL may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* SL (rapper), a rapper from London
* ''Second Life'', a multi-user 3D virtual world
* Sensei's Library, an Internet site dedicated to the game of Go
* Subdominant leittonwechselklänge
* Leica SL, a mirror ...
are highlighted.
Distribution and habitat
''Coleus scutellarioides'' is native from southeast Asia through to Australia (the Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, Southeast China, Java, Laos, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Peninsular Malaysia, Maluku, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, New Guinea, Northern Territory, Philippines, Queensland, the Solomon Islands, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Western Australia). It is cultivated worldwide and may be naturalized in other tropical regions. In its native habitat, it is found at elevations of , where it flowers and fruits throughout the year. It is winter hardy to USDA Zones 10–11.
Cultivation
History
The species was first introduced into Europe from Java in 1851 by a Dutch horticulturalist. At this time, there were few leaf colors and shapes. A wider variety was available by 1877, when the American William Bull offered seeds at 43 US cents each. However, by selecting for seed production, early flowering was inadvertently favored, and leaf color also declined in intensity. Coleus breeding revived in the early 1940s, and by the 1980s, the availability of an improved range of cultivars led to coleus becoming the tenth most important bedding crop in the US. More recently, vegetative propagation has enabled cultivars with novel leaf colors and shapes to be offered for sale. Plants with trailing as well as upright habits are now available.
The leaves of cultivars typically show sharp contrasts between their colors; particular leaves may be several shades of green, pink, yellow, "black" (a very dark purple), maroon, cream, white, and red (somewhat resembling the unrelated '' Caladium''). The leaf shape also varies from broadly ovate to more narrowly lanceolate. The leaf margins may have small or large teeth or be wavy, as may the whole leaf. New cultivars with different leaf shapes and color combinations are constantly being created.
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 ...
In cultivation, plants grow well in moist well-drained soil, and are usually tall, though some may grow as tall as . Coleus are grown as ornamental plants. They are heat-tolerant, but they do less well in full sun in subtropical areas than in the shade. In areas without freezing temperatures, plants can usually be kept as perennials if well managed. In colder areas, they are often grown as annuals, since the plants are not hardy and become leggy with age. In bright, hot areas, the colors of the plant are typically more intense in shade than in full sun, and the plants require less water there. Coleus also make low-maintenance houseplants, and can often be propagated by clipping a piece of stem just below the leaves and putting the stem in water to root. Young inflorescences may be removed to keep plants more compact.
Propagation
There are two ways to
propagate
Propagation can refer to:
*Chain propagation in a chemical reaction mechanism
*Crack propagation, the growth of a crack during the fracture of materials
*Propaganda, non-objective information used to further an agenda
*Reproduction, and other forms ...
coleus. Seeds are inexpensive and easily obtainable, though named cultivars do not come true from seeds. To germinate seeds, simply sprinkle seeds on the soil surface and press down. Seeds require light to germinate, so should not be covered. They may be kept moist by growing in a container covered with plastic, or by misting seeds daily. Sprouts can show color in as little as two weeks. Alternatively, cuttings can be taken. Cuttings root readily in plain water, without the addition of rooting hormone (although it is still beneficial).
Diseases
The downy mildew ''Peronospora'' sp. makes leaves brownish and can also cause leaf curling and twisting. It is harder to control this mildew on stems compared to leaves. Another disease is impatiens necrotic spot virus which causes brown or yellow spots on leaves, rings, black or brown stem discoloration, and brown leaf veins, ultimately resulting in plant death. The disease is spread by an insect called a thrips that carries the virus from an infected plant to an uninfected one. It only takes a few of these insects to infect a whole greenhouse.Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Extension /ref>
Psychoactivity
''Coleus scutellarioides'', under the name ''Coleus blumei'', has been reported to have very mild relaxing and/or hallucinogenic effects when consumed. The effects of the plant have not been scientifically explored in great detail, but the plant is known to have been used by the Mazatec people of southern Mexico for its mind-altering effects.
Gallery
Coleus scutellarioides, inflorescence.jpg, Inflorescence
Coleus tree.jpg, Cultivar grown as a short standard