Persian shield

Persian shield is a tender tropical shrub from Myanmar grown almost entirely for its iridescent purple-and-silver foliage, which shimmers metallically in the light. The lance-shaped leaves have finely toothed edges and dark green veins that sharply outline each panel of purple; in cold climates like coastal Maine it is treated as a summer annual or overwintered indoors.

• The metallic sheen comes from air pockets in the leaf surface that scatter light, not from purple pigment alone.
• It rarely blooms in cultivation, and when it does the pale blue flowers are far less striking than the leaves.
• Many Strobilanthes species are famous for mass flowering only once every several years before dying back.

Care
Give it bright indirect light or morning sun and keep the soil evenly moist, pinching the tips regularly to keep growth bushy and the color vivid.