Escallonia revoluta (Ruiz & Pavon) Pers.

An evergreen shrub up to 20 ft high; branchlets thickly covered with a grey felt, angled. Leaves 3⁄4 to 2 in. long, from 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. wide; obovate, pointed or rounded at the apex, tapering at the base, unevenly toothed; both surfaces covered with a thick grey down. Flowers white, produced in racemes or panicles 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, at the end of leafy twigs; petals 5⁄8 in. long, the bases forming a slender tube; calyx and flower-stalks covered with grey hairs. Blossoms in September and October. Bot. Mag., t. 6949.

Native of Chile from 31° to 410 S. It succeeds admirably in the south-western counties, but needs wall protection in colder localities. The name refers to the rolling inwards of the leaf-margins, which is usually more or less noticeable but is a character by no means confined to this species. Its most noticeable characteristic is the grey down which covers the entire plant, but varies in density.

E. × mollis Phil. E. rubra var. pubescens Hook. & Arn. – Here belong hybrids between E. revoluta and E. rubra, which occur fairly frequently in the coastal parts of Chile from Valparaiso to Valdivia. An escallonia grown at Wakehurst Place, Sussex, probably belongs here, though it is very near to E. revoluta. The flowers are, however, a definite shade of pink and the leaves differ from those of E. revoluta in being regularly saw-toothed. Similar plants are, or have been, in cultivation as “E. rubra var. pubescens” and “E. revoluta rosea”, and also as E. mollis.