National Botanic Garden of Wales, United Kingdom

Common name: cockies tongues, coral bush, flame bush

Family: Fabaceae

Distribution: Australia

Life form: Evergreen shrub/sub-shrub • Llwyn bytholwyrdd

Geirdarddiad / Etymology: Templetonia (tem-pel-TON-ee-a): Named for John Templeton (1766–1825), Irish botanist and promoter of the Belfast Botanic Gardens.

Geirdarddiad / Etymology: retusa (re-TOO-suh): Rounded and notched tip.

Description: A shrub from 1 to 2 metres in height often with an upright habit of growth. The leaves are greyish green, oblong to wedge-shaped, usually with a blunt, indented tip. They bare 15-40 mm long and 7-25 mm wide. The flowers are quite large, from 25 to 40 mm long and have the typical “pea” shape consisting of 4 petals. They are usually a deep red in colour but white and yellow flowered forms are known. The flowers are attractive to honey-eating birds and are followed by linear-oblong seed pods about 40-50 mm long by 10 mm wide.