Opithandra primuloides ("Iwagiriso")

Japanese name: イワギリソウ
Scientific name: Opithandra primuloides

[Overview]
A perennial growing attached to shaded cliff faces.
It has a short rhizome.
The whole plant is densely covered with soft white hairs.
The leaves are borne in a cluster from the rhizome, ovate, 3–15 cm long and 2–10 cm wide, and thick.
The leaf margins have large teeth.
The leaf stalk is 3–10 cm long.
Several flower stalks 10–20 cm long extend from the leaf axils and bear cymes with many reddish purple flowers.
The flowers have stalks 2–4 cm long and bloom facing sideways; the corolla is tubular, 2 cm long, and divided at the tip into 5 lobes forming two lips.
The fruit is a capsule.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by division or by leaf cuttings.
Take leaf cuttings in June.
It prefers shade with high air humidity.
It dislikes extreme cold in winter and heat in summer, and direct sunlight causes leaf scorch.
Also protect it from strong wind.
Use well-drained soil, such as Kanuma soil or soil for mountain wildflowers.
Water thoroughly when the soil surface dries.
In spring, place chemical fertilizer for mountain wildflowers on the soil.
Remove spent flowers promptly.
There are almost no pests or diseases, but slugs may appear.

[Notes]
The Japanese name comes from its being found on rocky places and its leaves and flowers resembling those of Kiri.

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