This vigorous climber is bearing its distinct flowers as it scrambles over support on the Systematic Beds.
A member of the phlox family (Polemoniaceae) Cobaea scandens is one of 20 species of woody, evergreen and herbaceous climbers from Mexico and South America, where they grow in forests and thickets. Members of the genus have alternate, pinnate foliage, terminal tendrils and large bell-shaped flowers. C. scandens is the most widely grown species in gardens of the United Kingdom, and although a perennial, producing semi-woody stems, it is usually treated as an annual. The pinnate leaves have branched tendrils which enable the plant to climb over neighbouring plants or structures, and the distinct five-lobed flowers mature from cream to purple, and sit within a papery calyx, earning this species the common name of cup and saucer plant.