Explore the Hartley and Heather Richardson Tropical Biome on your next visit to The Leaf and discover this beautiful tropical plant: Brazilian candles (Pavonia multiflora)!

Here are some key features and characteristics of Pavonia multiflora:

Basics: Brazilian candles, or many flowers, have long, lance-shaped leaves with red-purple flowers. The flowers themselves can grow 6 cm across, and the full plant can reach a height of up to 2.5 metres! This plant usually flowers from late spring to early fall but can bloom over winter in the right conditions.

Habitat: Pavonia multiflora is native to Brazil and South America.

Growing Your Own: Brazilian candles are an evergreen shrub that you can grow at home! They love natural light and bloom best in warm, humid conditions (like in The Leaf’s Hartley and Heather Richardson Tropical Biome!) Bringing your Pavonia multiflora outside in the summer will be very attractive to bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinating insects. They have low disease and pest issues, so if you take great care of them, they can last for many years.

Fun Fact: Its genus name Pavonia is in honour of 19th-century Spanish botanist José Antonio Pavón Jiménez, famous for his exploration and botanizing in South America under the funding of Charles III of Spain.