This Shrimp Plant from the Acanthaceae Family is one of my all time favourites. In books though, I often see a range of coloured bracts, varying from orangey yellowish pink to red.
I first saw this plant about 5 years ago at a Paya Lebar industrial building area near the entrance guard house. When I went back in 2008, the bedding plant was no longer there because the site was affected by the Circle Line construction.
These photos taken on 12 Jan 10 showed a free flowering shrub with gorgeously red bracts, which are often mistaken as the flowers. The true flowers are pink and can be seen subtended by the red bracts.
During a recent trip to the Secret Garden @ One Utama at Kuala Lumpur, we found some yellow bract variety that differs from the more common but equally gorgeous Pachystachys lutea, whose inflorescence is more upright with white flowers. Hopefully, this yellow variety would see the light of day in HortPark soon.
