Common name: Napoleon's hat

Originating in tropical Africa, this flowering shrub to small tree reaches up to 7 meters tall in its natural habitat. It is slow growing with a low-branching, multi-trunked habit and usually develops a pyramidal-shaped crown.

The leaves are large, glossy green and arranged densely along the branches in an alternate pattern. The flowers are showy, resembling passion-fruit flowers in shape, usually multi-coloured in shades of yellow, red and purple. Almost stalk-less, they bloom singularly on the trunk and on branch-wood in spring, usually obscured by the the dense foliage. These are followed by round, flattened fruit ripening to red-brown in late summer to autumn.

Use

Sometimes cultivated in gardens as an ornamental foliage or flowering shrub. The fruit are reportedly edible.

Climate

Its natural habitat is the under-story of humid rainforests in tropical West Africa, where air temperatures rarely falls below 20 C and annual rainfall is generally above 2000 mm.

Growing

Propagate from seed which are reported to have a poor germination rate. This is an under-story shrub, preferring short, partial sun exposure to light shade conditions.

Problem features

Despite introductions to regions outside its native range, there do not appear to be any reports of it being a weed or invasive species.