Titanotrichum oldhamii is an interesting, beautiful and unusual plant, native to Taiwan, Japan and adjacent areas of mainland China. It is the only Gesneriad not native to the Americas which has rhizomatous root structures. Long thought to be sterile, it turns out that it is essentially self-sterile — almost all of the material in cultivation has been a single clone, hence no seed could be produced. Additional clones have come into cultivation through a research project conducted in part at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.
The feature plant above was grown mainly outside in southeast New York State (Zone 7B), against a north facing wall, and wintered successfully in an unheated garage for several years before succumbing to a long stretch of very cold winter weather, approaching -15C (4F).
- A planting at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinborough
- A close view of the flowers on these RBGE plants
- A close-up of the flower on the clone originally in cultivation
- A plant growing in situ in China
- A cascade of flowers on a plant growing in situ in Taiwan
- A plant exhibited in a foliage (non-flowering) class at the 2026 Convention show of The Gesneriad Society
