Hindsia violacea

Hindsia violacea is a plant in the family Rubiaceae introduced to Britain in 1844. It is described as follows in Edward’s Botanical Register:^[1]

This Hindsia violacea is one of the finest things obtained from South Brazil. It has been imported by Messrs. Veitch and Son of Exeter, who received for it the large silver medal at the Horticultural Society’s Garden Exhibition in May last. It will doubtless prove a very easily cultivated green-house plant; and is certainly unsurpassed in beauty by blue flowering shrubs.

While below is the description found in Paxton’s Magazine of Botany, under the common name of porcelain-blue Hindsia:^[2]

H. violacea is in every respect a superior plant to the other species, and is, unquestionably, one of the finest stove plants of recent introduction. It is distinguished by its more luxuriant and spreading habit, and the greater magnitude of its leaves and blossoms. The leaves also are more deeply furrowed and hairy, and the flowers have greater substance, the petals being of a thick fleshy consistency and having a rich velvety-looking surface.