Get to know 20 plants selected from Timor-Leste. Discover their scientific names, identifying features and growing needs.
Lantana camara
L. camara is an evergreen shrub with sometimes prickly stems bearing wrinkled, ovate leaves and terminal clusters of salver-shaped flowers 1cm across, opening yellow and ageing to red, from late spring to autumn
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Cordyline fruticosa
Cordyline fruticosa is an evergreen shrub reaching up to 2-3 meters in height. It has erect stems with a tuft of sword-shaped or lanceolate leaves at the top, each 30-60 cm long. The foliage exhibits a wide range of colors, including deep g
Learn more →Codiaeum variegatum
Codiaeum variegatum, commonly known as croton, is a striking evergreen shrub grown primarily for its bold, leathery leaves. The leaves come in a dazzling array of colors including green, yellow, orange, red, and purple, often with variegate
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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
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Aloe vera
An evergreen perennial to 0.6m, forming rosettes of fleshy, narrow, dull green leaves with spiny margins, with long racemes of tubular greenish-yellow flowers 3cm in length in racemes to 90cm in length
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Ananas comosus
A terrestrial bromeliad with dense rosettes of dark green, lance-shaped, evergreen leaves up to 1m long, with spiny margins. In summer it produces cone-like clusters of purple flowers, with reddish-yellow bracts, followed by bright red, edi
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Asplenium nidus
An evergreen fern forming a striking rosette of strap-shaped, undivided, bright green, fronds to 1.2m in length
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Ficus benjamina
An evergreen shrub or tree to 3m or more, with pendulous branches bearing glossy, slender-pointed ovate leaves to 12cm in length. Flowers insignificant, followed by reddish-orange fruits 1cm in length, becoming black
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Platycerium bifurcatum
P. bifurcatum is an evergreen, epiphytic fern with heart-shaped sterile fronds and grey-green, arching, fertile fronds to 90cm in length, forked into strap-shaped segments, bearing brown spore patches beneath the tips
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Asclepias curassavica
An upright evergreen sub-shrub with lance-shaped leaves and umbel-like terminal clusters of orange-red flowers 2cm across, in summer and autumn, sometimes followed by erect, ovoid fruit 6-8cm in length
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Ficus elastica
Large, tropical evergreen tree, often grown as a houseplant. Large, broadly oval-shaped, glossy dark green leaves, occasionally red-flushed, with bronze-coloured undersides are 30-45cm long. Yellow figs are produced in clusters on mature tr
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Catharanthus roseus
A woody-based evergreen perennial, to 45cm in height, with somewhat fleshy stems bearing ovate leaves and 5-petalled flowers, to 4cm across, pink, red or white in colour
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Helianthus annuus
H. annuus is a tall, fast-growing annual with broad, oval to heart-shaped, roughly hairy leaves 10-40cm long. In summer it bears huge flowers up to 30cm across with bright yellow petals and dark brownish or purplish centres. The flowers att
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Populus alba
P. alba is a spreading, deciduous tree with a broad crown, suckering freely. Rounded leaves are deeply-lobed, dark green on top and white and downy underneath. Young shoots and leaves are completely white and hairy; yellow autumn colour. In
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Streptosolen jamesonii
S. jamesonii is a scrambling evergreen shrub to 3m, with small dark green leaves and clusters of slender-tubed flowers 3-4cm in length with spreading bright yellow and deep orange lobes
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Oxalis articulata
A rhizomatous, clump-forming, deciduous perennial up to 45cm tall in flower, with green, clover-like, three-lobed leaves on long stalks and masses of bright pink flowers in umbels on long flower stems, through the summer
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Nerium oleander
N. oleander is an evergreen shrub with narrowly lance-shaped grey-green leaves and terminal clusters of salver-shaped, pink, white or red flowers 3-4cm across, in summer
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Celosia argentea
An upright, branching perennial to 60cm, usually grown as an annual. Dense conical spikes of silvery-white flowers are produced in summer
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Schefflera arboricola
Schefflera arboricola, commonly known as the Dwarf Umbrella Tree, is an evergreen shrub native to Taiwan. It features palmate compound leaves typically composed of 7-9 leaflets, glossy and leathery. The plant has a compact, bushy habit with
Learn more →Euphorbia prostrata
Euphorbia prostrata is a prostrate summer annual that forms low, spreading mats of reddish stems and small, opposite, oblong to ovate green leaves, often with a reddish blotch. The inconspicuous greenish-white to pinkish cyathia are borne i
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