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Summary

Coleus scutellarioides, commonly known as coleus, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae (the mint or deadnettle family), native to southeast Asia through to Australia. Typically growing to 60–75 cm (24–30 in) tall and wide, it is a bushy, woody-based evergreen perennial, widely grown for the highly decorative variegated leaves found in cultivated varieties.
Another common name is painted nettle, reflecting its relationship to deadnettles (the Lamium species), which are in the same family. (True nettles and their close kin are in the distant family Urticaceae.) The synonyms Coleus blumei, Plectranthus scutellarioides and Solenostemon scutellarioides are also widely used for this species.

Description

Coleus scutellarioides is an upright annual or short-lived perennial plant which can live for about three or four years. Although certain forms (such as the cultivar 'Lime Time') may grow as tall as 1 m (3 ft), with well-branched, (generally) four-angled stems, most Coleus stay less than 60 cm (2 ft). Shorter, more trailing forms have sometimes been described as separate species (under names such as Coleus pumilus or Solenostemon pumilus), but are all now considered part of the very variable C. scutellarioides.

With modern cultivation and hybridisation, the species has become extremely variable with regards to its leaf colour, patterning and shape. They have somewhat fleshy, semi-succulent, but tender leaves, varying in size from 1.5–10 cm (0.6–3.9 in) long by 1–6 cm (0.4–2.4 in) wide; usually ovate in shape, the leaves are borne on petioles (stalks) from 0.5–5 cm (0.2–2.0 in) long. The leaf margin is divided to a variable degree. Hairs are present on both sides of the leaf.

The inflorescence is borne on the end of a stem and, like the leaves, is very variable in size; it may be up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long, with few or many flowers. The calyx is bell-shaped, initially...