''Anigozanthos rufus'' is a grass-like

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

native to the southern coasts of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Common names include red kangaroo paw, crimson kangaroo paw, and backdraft.

Description

The red kangaroo paw grows to a height of . The grass-like plant has green and grey flat, strappy leaves that are long. It produces long red to purple to yellow coloured flowers in spring and early summer from August to January. The tubular flowers have a velvety texture and form dense heads at the end.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by the botanist

Jacques Labillardière Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the Jean-François de Galaup, comte ...

in 1800 as part of the work ''Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Perouse''. Synonyms include ''Schwaegrichenia rufa'', ''Agonizanthos rufa'' and ''Anigozanthos tyrianthinus''.

Distribution

The plant is often situated in seasonally wet areas growing in sandy soils along the south coast from around Albany in the west to around

Cape Arid Cape Arid National Park is a List of national parks of Australia, national park located in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is situated east of Esperance, Western Australia, Esperance and lies on the shore of the South coast of ...

in the east.

Cultivation

It is commercially available in pots or seed form and is suitable for small gardens or as a border plant and is also suitable as a pot plant but needs to be moved indoors for the winter months in cooler areas. Once it is established it is drought tolerant, grows in full sun or shade and moderately frost tolerant. The plant needs space for plenty of air flow around the base to assist to prevent Ink disease which blackens the leaf blade. Clumps of the plant can be divided in the summer.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15316838

rufus Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin ''wikt:rufus, rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include: Given name Politicians * Marcus Caelius Rufus, (28 May 82 BC – after 48 ...

Taxa named by Jacques Labillardière Plants described in 1800 Angiosperms of Western Australia