Lipstick Plant
Aeschynanthus radicans · the Lipstick Vine
It trails from tree trunks and branches in the humid rainforests of Southeast Asia, an epiphyte rooting into bark and leaf litter. Its scarlet flowers push out of a darker tubular bud that looks exactly like a lipstick being twisted open.
Family
Gesneriaceae
Origin
Southeast Asia
In the wild
Epiphyte on trees
Indoors
0.3–0.9 m trailing
Growth
Moderate
With pets
Non-toxic
Where it's from
Southeast Asia, from the Malay Peninsula to Borneo
Canopy dweller
Slender vining stems hang from branches, reaching one to one and a half metres long in the wild.
A large genus
Aeschynanthus runs to roughly 150 to 185 species across the Old World tropics. This is by far the most common in cultivation.
Outdoors: zones 10–11
True tropical. Leaves drop below about 10°C, so it lives indoors almost everywhere.
A flower worked by birds
Each scarlet flower pushes out of a darker, tube-shaped calyx exactly like a lipstick twisting up out of its case. In its Old World home the bloom is worked not by hummingbirds but by sunbirds, the eastern stand-in for them, which is why the flowers are red, tubular and almost scentless.
Red, tubular, scentless
The classic bird-pollination shape. Fragrance is negligible, this is a visual bloom.
Blooms freely
A long season from spring through fall, with a yellow throat inside each scarlet tube.
A winter rest sets buds
Keeping it cooler and drier through winter is what triggers the next flush of flowers.
How to keep it
LightBright, indirect
Best flowering in bright indirect light. It tolerates shade but blooms less. No harsh midday sun.
WaterEvenly moist
Keep moist but never soggy. A hanging basket dries fast, so it is thirsty in growth. Cooler and drier in winter.
HumidityHighA rainforest epiphyte. Dry, drafty air causes leaf and bud drop.
Temperature16–21°CWarm. Leaf drop sets in below about 10°C. No frost.
SoilLoose, airy epiphyte mixAfrican-violet mix with sphagnum and charcoal works well. It must drain.
FeedingLight, in growing seasonA dilute balanced or bloom feed through summer. Ease off for the winter rest.
DifficultyEasyLow-maintenance and forgiving. The challenge is coaxing flowers, not survival.
With petsNon-toxicListed non-toxic to cats, dogs and horses. Large amounts of any plant can still cause mild stomach upset.
PropagationStem-tip cuttingsTake four to six inch tips and root them in moist mix or water, often within two weeks. The after-bloom prune supplies free cuttings.
RepottingRarelyIt flowers better slightly pot-bound. Repot only every few years or when crowded.
What the data says
What it costs
A cheap, widely available florist and box-store plant, the opposite of a collector trophy.
$15–40
Variegated and novelty cultivars stay modest. There is no speculative bubble here.
The air-purifier claim
It gets swept onto the same air-purifying lists as everything else, on the strength of a sealed lab chamber.
100–1,000
plants per square metre would be needed to match a room's normal ventilation (Cummings and Waring, 2019). NASA's 1989 test used a sealed box with no airflow. Grow it for the scarlet lipstick-tube flowers.
IUCN · Not assessed
In the wild
The cultivated plant is secure, while its rarer relatives lose ground.
Aeschynanthus radicans carries no published IUCN assessment and, propagated by the million from cuttings, is never collected from the wild. But the genus lives in Southeast Asian rainforest, the world's most rapidly cleared tropical forest, where many narrow-range relatives are far scarcer than this one.
When it sulks
No flowers, few bloomsToo little light, or no cool, dry winter rest to set buds.
Leaf or bud dropCold below about 10°C, drafts, low humidity, or letting it dry out hard in growth.
Leggy, sparse growthToo little light and no pruning. Cut stems back to about six inches to rebush.
Yellowing, root rotSoggy, poorly drained mix or chronic overwatering.
PestsAphids, mealybugs, scale and spider mites, especially in dry air.
Varieties & company
The varieties
Mona LisaVariegataCurly (Rasta)KrakauTangerine
Pairs with · keep apart from
African VioletFernsPothosSnake PlantCactiSucculents
A new plant, every week.
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