Flame Violet

Growing Flame Violet

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Episcias are attractive trailing plants related to the African Violet. They bloom from spring through

fall with bright-hued, dainty flowers. Episcias make an excellent ground cover between taller foliage plants where

they can benefit from the increased humidity in the enclosed environment. E. cupreata has eye-catching, oval and

hairy leaves that range from deep coppery green to bright green and are quilted with silvery or pale green veins.

The trailing stems can grow to about 1½ ft. long. The blooms consist of tubular, orange-red flowers which are yellow-eyed

and about 3/4” across, emerging from the leaf axils in threes and fours. Prune stems after flowering.

Flame Violet Plant

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Recommended Temperature Zone:USDA: 11
Frost Tolerance: Very tender, some cultivars will die if taken below 60°F (16°C)
Heat Tolerance: Resist to fairly high temperature if it has very high humidity
Sun Exposure: Shade
Origin: Panama to Nicaragua
Growth Habits: Terrestrial herb, up to 6 inches tall (15 cm)
Watering Needs: Abundant water
Propagation: Stolons

Flame Violet (Episcia cupreata)

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The flame violet (Episcia cupreata (Hooker) Hanstein) is a gesneriad, a member of the Gesneriaceae. The family is best known for the African violets with their white, pink, or purple flowers. Flame violet flowers are brilliant orange-red; the plants are native to the moist forests of Colombia and Venezuela.

The plant was originally named Achimenes cupreata by William Jackson Hooker in 1847. The species epithet, cupreata or copper, is a reference to the color of the abaxial or underside of the leaf of the original wild plant. Under cultivation, the flame violet has given rise to numerous leaf colorations; these cultivars are grown for their foliage.

Although flame violets produce seeds, they mainly reproduce by stolon or runner. A new plant grows at the tip of the stolon. In good conditions, a flame violet will colonize bare, shaded soil which gave the plant another common name, carpet plant.

Johannes Ludwig Emil Robert von Hanstein was one of the first experts in the study of gesneriads. In 1865, he reclassified the flame violet as an Episcia, a genus established by C. H. Persoon and an allusion to the plant's deep shade habitat. Flame violets do not tolerate direct sunlight. Preferring shade, they readily adapt to cultivation as houseplants.

Before Hanstein became 'infatuated' with gesneriads, he was one of the first botanists to study and carefully diagram internal plant structures in trees. In 1853, he published his observations and meticulous diagrams in Untersuchungen über den Bau und die Entwicklung der Baumrinde (Findings on the Construction and Development of Tree Bark).