Metarungia longistrobus flowers

Metarungia longistrobus, the sunbird bush or orange lips, is a dense, branched shrub that grows to 1,6 m in height. It has grey-green, opposite, lanceolate leaves and produces orange flower spikes above the foliage in summer and autumn. The flowers are two-lipped, ribbon-like.

The plant attracts sunbirds. It is a garden plant tender to frost. The distribution includes the eastern parts of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, as well as over the border in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and probably Swaziland.

Metarungia is an Acanthaceae genus (www.plantbook.co.za; www.plantdatabase.co.za).