Walking through the rainforest last week, we came across this little purple flower which is commonly known as a pastel flower or love flower and flowers from January to March.

It’s scientific name is Pseuderanthemum evariabile  and it belongs to the Acanthaceae family.

It is a perennial herb which enjoys the moist, dark environment of the rainforest and grows 15-30cm high and has a petiole (stem) which is 5-20mm long and is covered with pale hairs. The flowers and leaves are also covered with fine glandular hairs. Flowers can be white to mauve in colour with five petals and can sometimes have dark spots on the lower lobe which guides nectar feeding animals to its centre.

The plant has large seed capsules which develop on young plants and make seed propagation easy.