My garden ... it has been a slow spring this year. Finally things are showing signs of life.
I'm hoping this pulls through. I transplanted it here last summer. It really needs some warm sunshine and a bit less rain for awhile. Update in October ... it's growing away quite well at the moment.
Jovellana is a genus of flowering plants in the family Calceolariaceae. It was formerly included in Scrophulariaceae, and is still listed by some authorities as belonging there. However, recent molecular research indicates that the family Scrophulariaceae was polyphyletic, meaning that it contained more than one lineage with different parents. So several of its genera - including Jovellana - have been split off and assigned to new or existing families.
During the Miocene epoch, the climate of the North Island of New Zealand was said to be subtropical. It started to cool down during the Late Miocene and Pliocene to a more temperate climate which was similar to that of central Chile. This may have allowed the South American elements of the Jovellana genus to establish their characteristics by long distance dispersal.
Jovellana currently contains six to eight species of mainly herbaceous perennials native to Chile and New Zealand.
Jovellana violacea, also known as the violet teacup flower or violet slipper flower, is native to Chile.
The generic epithet commemorates Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos.
