maltese cross
This plant in the photo earned its name due to of the unusual configuration of its flowers, whose petals are classically disposed in sets of four in the recognizable shape of the Cross of Malta.
What’s wrong with the bloom in the picture? Absolutely nothing. Maltese, or Jerusalem Cross, comes with both four and five petaled flowers, often on the same plant.
I had given up on this plant after I moved it to what I considered to be better growing conditions and it faded away to nothing, so I didn’t bother to check for it the next year, when it grew surreptitiously under, you guessed it, a large piece of fallen bark.
The plant likes to meander close to the ground and I always forget it is there, until the end of summer, when its intense coral red flowers jump at me from the background of their dark foliage. They are even more stunning in the shade, where the flowers stay small, but their visual impact is much stronger.
Some people insist that the four petaled and the five petaled flowers belong to two different species, one of which is a true Maltese Cross, while the other one is not. I can assure you the plant in the picture enjoyed many a four petal summer before it decided to diversify.
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