Plant in a warm sunny location and give it plenty of water but also tolerates considerable shade. Hardy to about 25-30 degrees F. This plant forms a large spreading shrub but also espaliers very nicely and the flowers are attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds.

Calliandra haematocephala was first discovered in Bolivia but is also distributed throughout southern Peru and planted extensively throughout South America and elsewhere, partly due to cultivation for ornament and for its bark which was marketed in the mid-1800s as a substitute for the unrelated Cinchona (Cinchona officinalis) from the which the bark containing quinine was used to treat malaria. Because this plant was planted out elsewhere so early this species was first described from a plant growing in distant Java. The name for the genus is from the Greek 'kallos', meaning "beautiful" and 'andra' meaning "stamen" and the specific epithet comes from comes from the Greek words 'haimatos' meaning blood and 'kephalé' meaning 'head' in reference to the blood-red head flowers of the typical form while this cultivar is a rarer white flowering variety of the Powderpuff shrub that we grew from 1988 until the year 2000 and we still have a large specimen espaliered against our original sales office near our greenhouses. 

This information about Calliandra haematocephala 'Alba' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate 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 that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.