Get to know 20 plants selected from Cameroon. Discover their scientific names, identifying features and growing needs.
Zea mays
Sweetcorn is relatively easy to grow and without a doubt tastes so much better that shop bought. There's a great range of varieties to grow, both heritage and modern, and something to suit most gardens and the shorter British summers. If y
Learn more →
Caladium bicolor
Caladium bicolor is a tuberous perennial grown for its striking, heart-shaped leaves that display a vibrant mix of green, white, pink, red, and burgundy. The foliage is papery thin with prominent veins, arising directly from the underground
Learn more →
Carica papaya
A tree-like, evergreen,herbaceous plant that can reach 6m in tropical conditions. The single, upright stem is topped with a palm-like spread of large, long stemmed, deeply divided leaves. Cream, scented flowers, which may be male, female or
Learn more →
Dracaena fragrans
An upright, evergreen, tropical shrub with cane-like stems and glossy, strap-shaped leaves to 40cm long. Its slender habit and tolerance of a range of conditions make it a popular houseplant
Learn more →
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
A compact evergreen shrub with ovate to broadly lance-shaped glossy dark green leaves. Single 5-petalled flowers 10cm across with yellow anthered red stamens are produced from the leaf axils from summer to autumn, though in cultivation semi
Learn more →
Psidium guajava
An evergreen shrub or small tree up to 6m tall with prominently-veined, ovate to oblong leaves up to 15cm long with serrated margins. White flowers to 2.5cm across with brush-like clusters of long stamens are borne singly or in small groups
Learn more →
Phaseolus vulgaris
The wild common bean from which a vast number of edible beans have been bred, including all the 'French' beans. They are annual, twining climbers with green tri-foliate leaves, though many selected varieties are dwarf. The flowers are mostl
Learn more →Moringa oleifera
Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing deciduous tree, usually 4–8 m tall, with feathery tripinnate leaves and pale grey bark. It produces fragrant white to cream flowers in loose clusters, followed by long, ribbed green pods. The tree is grown
Learn more →
Cotoneaster horizontalis
Low-growing, spreading, deciduous shrub to 90cm tall and 1.5m in width, with distinctive, flat, herringbone patterned sprays of foliage bearing small glossy dark green leaves that turn orange and red in autumn. Pink-tinged white flowers in
Learn more →
Delphinium elatum
A tall, upright, herbaceous perennial to 180cm with deeply lobed leaves and stiff spikes of dark, purplish-blue flowers in summer
Learn more →
Hypericum patulum
A bushy, spreading, evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub 1.2 m tall, with dark green leaves to 6cm long and cup-shaped, golden-yellow flowers in clusters of up to fifteen flowers borne from summer to early autumn
Learn more →
Ipomoea batatas
A variable species of twining perennial climber, often grown as an annual, with some cultivars valued for their edible roots. Leaves are usually ovate to heart-shaped, sometimes lobed and sometimes flushed with purple. Funnel-shaped flowers
Learn more →
Ocimum basilicum
An aromatic tender annual or short-lived perennial, 30-60cm tall and 30cm wide, with bright green, elliptic leaves approximately 5cm long and 2-3cm wide. Many different cultivars available, varying in size and colour. Small, tubular white o
Learn more →
Opuntia ficus-indica
A bushy, tree-like cactus with divided, spiny, flat, oblong or elliptic grey to green stems. Bowl-shaped yellow or orange flowers are produced from spring until summer, followed by purple, orange or red fruit
Learn more →
Pistia stratiotes
This plant is listed on Schedule 9 of the UK Wildlife & Countryside Act as an invasive, non-native species and is banned from sale. See cultivation notes for further details\r\n\r\nA tender, floating, evergreen aquatic perennial with semi-
Learn more →
Ravenala madagascariensis
A palm-like, evergreen tree eventually reaching up to 10m tall with an unbranched trunk topped with a fan-shaped crown of dark green leaves arranged in a single plane. The leaves are long-stalked, 3-6m long and have expaned, cup-shaped leaf
Learn more →
Caesalpinia pulcherrima
An upright evergreen thorny shrub or small tree with feathery foliage to 4m high and wide, bearing very showy red and yellow flowers through the most of the year, but peaking in the spring and autumn
Learn more →
Persea americana
P. americana is a bushy evergreen shrub or small tree, with glossy, lance-shaped or elliptic leaves, rarely flowering in cultivation in temperate climates
Learn more →
Foeniculum vulgare
Robust, upright, aromatic perennial plant to 1.8m tall, with 3 to 4 pinnate mid-green leaves composed of hair-like segments, and branching stems bearing flat umbels of small yellow flowers in summer; both leaves and fruits are aniseed-scent
Learn more →
Gloriosa superba
A climbing tuberous perennial to 2m, with lance-shaped bright green leaves tipped with tendrils. Flowers 10cm across, with reflexed, wavy-edged scarlet or yellow petals, and prominent stamens
Learn more →