CRINODENDRON PATAGUA (Elaeocarpaceae) HSh

A superb hardy Chilean shrub, a close but much rarer relative of the "Chilean Lantern Tree". Indeed very few people can ever identify it. Pretty sprays of frilly white bell-shaped flowers appear in late summer followed by red locket-like seed-pods, which persist into late autumn. Although it flowers reliably as a young plant, ours has taken sixteen years to actually set a crop of seed (my bank manager would say, "not very commercial"), which we are now all fortunate to share.