This half-hardy shrub is displaying small, trumpet-shaped flowers in the Glasshouse Bays.
The potato family (Solanaceae) is a cosmopolitan family containing 88 genera and over 2500 species of trees, shrubs, climbers, herbaceous perennials and annuals. All members of the genus have simple, lobed or pinnate foliage and solitary flowers. The genus Iochroma comprises 26 species of trees and shrubs from tropical South America. I. australe has entire, downy leaves and funnel-shaped, five-lobed pendent flowers of lavender-blue. It is a tender species which enjoys the microclimate afforded here in the shelter of the Glasshouses, though is normally treated as a conservatory plant, or tender perennial, when it is over-wintered in a glasshouse.