• Specie: Rhodoleia (rhodesia championii 紅花荷)
• Location: Lugard Road (next to the Indian Rubber Tree and Mount Austin Road next to the stairs opposite No 22)

A walk around the Hong Kong’s Victoria Peak yielded an eyeful with these glamorous Rhodoleia, flowering during the winter months.

The two trees I came across are pretty non-descript on their own when I passed them on previous walks, but last week, they lit up (albeit a bit late) like Christmas trees.

The first one I saw grows on a hill on Lugard Road, right next to the big Old and Valuable Indian Rubber Tree.

The other grows on a slope next to a staircase that forms a short cut over a hairpin turn in Mount Austin Road, just opposite No. 22.

Rhodoleias are relatively small, perky evergreen trees with glossy green leaves with pale grey undersides. As such, they are not easy to distinguish from many other species on Hong Kong’s slopes, until it reveals its deep scarlet blooms that is.

Categories:Rhodoleia, Street trees, treelover, urbantrees, Urbantrees of Hong KongTags: Hong Kong trees, Rhodoleia, Street trees, Urban tree of Hong Kong, Victoria Peak