Family: Acanthaceae
False eranthemum is a colorful multi-branched shrub. Widely cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics for generations, its native range is obscure due to extensive cultivation. The best guess is Melanesia. The highly variable genus is “taxonomically confused.” Some members were assigned species names when cultivar names would have been more appropriate.
Pseuderanthemum maculatum var. atropurpurem (Purple False Eranthemum) and P. maculatum (El Dorado) are the most commonly grown cultivars. P. maculatum won’t escape cultivation like some members of the Acanthaceae family. This species may require a specialist pollinator. Fruit and seeds have not been observed in Hawai’i or other tropical places.
New plants are easily reproduced from vegetative cuttings. Pseuderanthemum makes an excellent hedge and tolerates heavy pruning. Pruning will induce more branching, and the new growth will be more colorful, hence a colorful bushy hedge. It can handle moderate salt spray and full sun.
*False eranthemum is easy to confuse with Graptophyllum and some crotons.
Plant Uses:
- Container plant
- Hedge
- Ornamental
- Privacy / screening
- Shade
Plant Dangers:
- No dangers
High Risk Traits:
- Naturalized in French Polynesia, Palau (expanding into forests), and South America
- Weed of disturbed sites; recommended to stop planting in Palau
- Tolerates loam, sand, acidic, neutral, and alkaline soils
- Reproduces vegetatively (easily from cuttings)
- Tolerates heavy pruning
- Widely cultivated as ornamental
- Grows in tropical/subtropical climates (USDA zones 10-11)
Low Risk Traits:
- Not an agricultural, forestry, or environmental weed
- No spines, thorns, or burrs
- No allelopathy, parasitism, toxicity, or fire hazard
- Rarely produces viable seed (often sterile in cultivation)
- Not self-sowing
- Requires specialist pollinators
- No prolific seed production
- No seed bank
- No wind, water, bird, animal, or produce contaminant dispersal
