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Duranta stenostachya (West Indian Skyflower) – An attractive shrub grown for its summer flowers and ornamental fruit, this evergreen shrub grows to about 6 feet tall and wide. In the summer, clusters of blue tubular flowers appear followed by wonderfully contrasting orange-yellow berries.
Best planted in full sun with periodic deep watering - surprisingly drought tolerant for a plant from a subtropical region. It is cold hardy to about 20-25 degrees F. This species has a smaller less upright growing habit than the common Skyflower, Duranta repens, but in ideal conditions it can still get to 15 feet. In most gardens it is considerably less and can easily be kept low by pruning.
Duranta stenostachya is native to the Windward Islands, the larger southern islands of the Lesser Antilles, within the West Indies. The name for the genus honors Castore Durante (AKA Castor Durante da Gualdo) a 16th century Italian botanist and physician who wrote a book in 1585 describing medicinal plants from Europe and East and West Indies. The specific epithet is from the Greek words 'stenos', meaning "narrow" or "tight" and 'stachys', meaning "a spike" in reference to the narrow flower spike compared to other species in the genus. This species is smaller with smaller darker green leaves, tighter flower clusters and lacks any thorns compared with Duranta erecta. We have grown and sold this plant at the nursery since 1987.
The information about Duranta stenostachya displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
