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Calothamnus quadrifidus 'Mystery Red' (One-sided Bottlebrush) - A medium-sized evergreen shrub to 5-7 feet tall with soft hairy pine-needle-like leaves and bright red flowers, which are actually bundles of four stamens known as staminal claws, from late winter to summer with sporadic bloom on to late fall. The flowers are borne on one side of stem that was the previous year's new growth.
Plant in full to partial sun and water infrequently. Tolerant of hot dry conditions, most any well-drained soil, coastal conditions (back from salt spray zone) and medium frost - listed hardy to 16 F. Good as a low screen. Foliage is great in flower arrangements and flowers attracts nectar feeding birds to the garden.
This plant showed up in a crop of seedling Calothamnus quadrifidus 'Yellow Form' and was separated out. I has shorter and thinner leaves than another cultivar of this species that we grow, Calothamnus quadrifidus 'Seaside' and we are not sure if this plant is possibly Calothamnus villosus or possibly Calothamnus sanquineus, which is does resemble. The name for the genus comes from the Greek word 'kalos' which means "beautiful" and 'thamnos' which means "a shrub" and the specific epithet means "divided into four parts" in reference to the staminal bundles.
The information about Calothamnus quadrifidus 'Mystery Red' 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.
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