Rondeletia amoena

Rondeletia amoena

This is a tall evergreen shrub up to 3m, with large shiny leaves which look attractive all year round. It has rounded clusters of tiny pink perfumed flowers from August to November. Hailing from Central America, it is a very tough, drought-tolerant plant for our gardens and is useful as a background shrub, grown as an informal hedge, or shaped as a small tree by removing the lower branches.

Rondeletia amoena in the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney

Rondeletia amoena in the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney

Fairly hard pruning each year after flowering will promote a denser form: otherwise it can get quite straggly. It will look at its best, and be most floriferous, in a sunny spot, but can tolerate part-shade. It dislikes frost. It can be propagated from semi-hardwood cuttings taken in October or November. Often spurned as an old-fashioned plant, I think it fits in well in a garden planted with shrubby perennials from warm climates. It can be susceptible to scale attack: use white oil to deal with this problem.

The genus name of Rondeletia was given in honour of Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566), a French naturalist and physician. Its colloquial name is yellow-throated rondeletia.

Note that this plant is now known botanically as Rogiera amoena.