Common name: Cuban Oregano, Five Seasons Herb, Spanish Thyme
Coleus amboinicus Lour. APNI* Synonyms: Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng. APNI*
Description: Openly branched, succulent, semi-prostrate, spreading subshrub to 0.5 m high with a moderately dense tomentose or pilose indumentum. Bearing a noticeably strong pleasant aroma akin to the herb oregano when touched or crushed. Branches and leaves lack coloured sessile multicellular glands. Does not form a distinctive tuber.
Leaves concolorous, fleshy, pale or bright green, becoming yellowish or reddish when drought stressed; petiole 4–35 mm long; lamina broadly ovate to ovate deltoid, 44–75 mm long, 33–70 mm wide; apex rounded, base truncate or sometimes abruptly attenuate, margin dentate or crenate with 11–16 pairs of teeth, densely distributed hairs on upper and lower surfaces; upper surface with veins slightly impressed; lower surface veins strongly raised.
Inflorescence to 100–300 mm long, usually as a single racemose branch (sometimes with two lateral branches); verticillasters 8–20-flowered. Pedicel 1.5–2.5 mm long. Calyx 2.5–3 mm long. Corolla white or very pale mauve, with deeper purple markings on upper (adaxial) and lateral lobes, 7–9 mm long; tube 2.5–4 mm long, curved downwards at an angle of 45°–85°. Stamen enclosed or slightly extending past lower corolla lobe, pollen orange or yellow. Style extending slightly past stamen.
Fruiting calyx accrescent, 5–6 mm long. Mericarp not seen in Australian material.
Flowering: chiefly between September and April.
Distribution and occurrence: Widely cultivated throughout the world, occurring naturally in various parts of Africa (but area of origin possibly uncertain). Found naturalised in rock-outcrops.
NSW subdivisions: *CC
Other Australian states: *Qld
Infrequently cultivated in Australia, with a few naturalised accounts in the east.
Text by T.C.Wilson (April 2026)
Taxon concept: Paton A.J. (2019) Nomenclatural changes in Coleus and Plectranthus(Lamiaceae): a tale of more than two genera. PhytoKeys 129:1–158.
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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