Reinwardtia indica - Yellow Flax

The shrubby yellow flax, in Latin Reinwardtia indica, is a perennial shrub from very mild climates that blooms for six months, from the heart of winter until spring. Truly enchanting, so bright on short days, the small golden yellow corollas of this flax give off a vanilla scent. Apart from its low hardiness, it is a generous and easy-to-care plant. It can easily spend the winter in a conservatory or in an unheated room and the beautiful season outside. In our mildest regions, it can be planted near a path, right against the house, to enjoy it to the fullest.

Reinwardtia indica, the Indian yellow flax, belongs to the Linaceae family, just like blue flax. It originates from the mountains of Northern India and southern China. It is a woody-based perennial plant, with suckering roots and a flexible shrubby habit, upright and trailing, well-branched, that will form a clump of about 60 cm (24in) in all directions, sometimes 1 m (3ft) if not pruned. It is kept compact by an annual pruning after flowering to prevent it from becoming lanky. The foliage is bright green, semi-evergreen to evergreen in winter. The leaves, arranged alternately on the branches, are oblong in shape with prominent veins and measuring about 8 cm (3in) in length.

To bloom, the plant requires cool temperatures, between 1 and 10 °C: a heated indoor environment is not suitable. Flowering begins in January and continues continuously until April. The flowers measure about 4 cm (2in) in diameter, their base is tubular and they open into 5 bright yellow petals that overlap. They only last a few days, but new flower buds are constantly forming. The fragrance of these flowers evokes vanilla. The roots are capable of withstanding short frosts of around -7 °C (19.4°F), but freezing temperatures damage the vegetation and definitely compromise flowering.

The shrubby yellow flax is a perfect conservatory plant, to be placed in a very lightly heated veranda during winter, a cool and bright room in the house, in a cold greenhouse, or even under a porch where it doesn't freeze. It can be placed next to a Tibouchina or a Tecomaria capensis which also bloom in winter. Its cultivation in open ground is successful on the French Riviera or in the most sheltered areas of the Atlantic coast. In fact, the above-ground vegetation, including the flowers, is destroyed from -2 °C (28.4°F).