This unusual climber is in full flower in the East Tropics House.
Tecomanthe dendrophila (New Guinea forest bell) belongs to the Bignoniaceae, or trumpet vine family, which contains approximately 80 genera of mainly tropical plants, and includes the more familiar Catalpa and Campsis. T. dendrophila is a vigorous liana (woody climber) occurring in the wet tropics of Maluku, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Reaching up to 20 m in height it has pinnate foliage and produces pendulous clusters of up to 20 tubular flowers, which have a cream-white inner and a rose pink outer which fades to pale pink with age. Here it is producing a mass of flower above the path in the East Tropics House.