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Gastrolobium praemorsum 'Bronze Butterfly' (Bronze Butterfly) - A creeping shrub that grows 1 to 2 feet tall with chartreuse-margined triangular-shaped dark bronze (nearly black) foliage. Flowers, borne in opposite pairs from spring through summer emerge a pale orange-red and deepen with age to very dark red.
Plant in well-drained soil in shade or in full sun along the coast. Appreciates water during dry periods. Frost hardy to mid 20°s F. An unusual and interesting plant that is useful as a groundcover or in a large pot. Flowers are attractive to birds but the foliage might be poisonous to animals.
Gastrolobium praemorsum is endemic to south-west of Western Australia from Geographe Bay to Albany with an isolated population at Bullsbrook north of Perth. We received this plant and grew it as a cultivar of Brachysema praemorsum, the name it was first described as in 1844 but in 2002 it and others in the genus Brachysema were reassigned to the genus Gastrolobium. The name for the genus comes from the Greek words 'gastros', meaning "stomach" and 'lobus' meaning pod, in reference to the inflated seed pods of several species. The specific epithet 'praemorsa', meaning "bitten off" is in reference to the shape of the leaf tip. This plant was a 2002 release from the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum Koala Blooms Australian Plant Introduction Program and was made available from San Marcos Growers, Rosendale Nursery, Suncrest Nursery and Monterey Bay Nursery. We grew this interesting plant from 2002 until 2012 when we discontinued producing it.
The information about Gastrolobium praemorsum 'Bronze Butterfly' that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.
Please note that after 46 years in business, San Marcos Growers will be discontinuing nursery operations by the end of 2025 and the property will be developed for affordable housing.
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