Mutisia oligodon Poepp. &

An evergreen semi-climbing, semi-prostrate shrub with ribbed young shoots covered at first with a loose, pale wool. Leaves 1 to 11⁄2 in. long, 1⁄4 to 7⁄8 in. wide, oblong, stalkless, the base mostly bi-lobed, the lobes clasping the stem, the midrib prolonged into a slender, curling tendril 1⁄2 to 3 in. long, margins coarsely triangularly toothed; dark bright green above, covered with pale wool beneath. Flower-heads solitary, terminal, borne on a slender stalk 1 to 3 in. long; ray-florets six to twelve, elliptical to oblanceolate, roundish or blunt at the end, 11⁄4 in. long, 3⁄8 in. wide, of a beautiful silky pink (almost salmon-pink). Bracts of the involucre closely overlapping, roundish-ovate, with down at the margin and a short mucro at the apex. Bot. Mag., t. 9499.

Native of Chile and Argentina at 3,000 to 5,000 ft altitude. Originally described in 1835, and afterwards found by Veitch’s collector, Richard Pearce (1859–66), it seems first to have been introduced to cultivation by H. F. Comber during his Andean Expedition, 1925–7. He describes it as covering large areas, spreading by means of underground stems, a single plant often filling a space of 8 to 10 sq. yd. He found it common in rocky places and on hot, dry pastures, growing only 6 in. to 1 ft high (see Journ. R.H.S., Vol. 74 (1949), figs. 86 and 87). It was stated in previous editions that Comber found it up to 8 ft high, but that information came from notes on field specimens which belong to M. spinosa.

James Comber, the collector’s father, who was for many years garden manager at Nymans in Sussex, judged this species to be the most successful of the mutisias under ordinary garden conditions. He grew it in light moist loam with the addition of leaf mould and coarse sand, but it might be happier in a rubbly, rock-covered soil. At Borde Hill in Sussex a plant raised from Comber’s original seed has lived for over forty years against a low garden wall near a stone path. Fertile seeds are usually produced, and cuttings strike quite readily.