Hypocyrta glabra

English name: Kissing lips/goldfish plant

Latin names: Hypocyrta glabra/Nemantanthus gregarius

Family: Gesneriad - Gesneriaceae

Origin: Brazil

The kissing lips or goldfish plant is a small, trailing plant with thick, leathery, dark green, shiny leaves. The plant’s homeland is Brazil, where it grows on trees as an epiphyte. The genus name is derived from the Greek “hypo”, meaning “down” and “cyrtos”, bloated, referring to the shape of the corolla. The stalk flowers are located, one to three at a time, in the leaf axils. The long petal corolla ranges in colour from orange-yellow to scarlet, and the puckered or “kissing” shape of the petals accounts for much of its charm. The flowers grow from August to March.