Lipstick Plant Identification Guide
Recognize the Lipstick Plant (Aeschynanthus radicans) by its trailing waxy leaves and tubular red flowers emerging from dark calyx "tubes." Includes look-alike comparisons.
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Key Identifying Features
The Lipstick Plant (Aeschynanthus radicans) is a trailing tropical epiphyte named for its flowers: a bright red tubular bloom that emerges from a dark maroon calyx, resembling lipstick rising from its tube. Paired with thick, waxy, dark green leaves on cascading stems, it is a popular hanging-basket houseplant.
- Trailing/vining stems that hang gracefully
- Opposite, waxy, oval leaves of glossy dark green
- Tubular red flowers poking from a purple-black calyx
- A semi-succulent, vine-like habit
Leaves & Stems
Leaves are opposite, thick, leathery, and elliptical to ovate, 1-3 inches long, with a glossy waxy surface and often a slightly pointed tip. Stems are flexible and trailing, reddish-green, and can reach 1-3 feet, rooting at nodes in the wild as an epiphyte. The foliage is fairly uniform and dense, providing a lush curtain of green. Some cultivars ('Curly', 'Mona Lisa', 'Black Pagoda') vary in leaf shape and color.
Flowers & Fruit
The signature flowers cluster at stem tips. Each consists of a dark, tube-shaped calyx (deep maroon to nearly black) from which a bright red to orange-red corolla emerges, about 2 inches long, flaring slightly at the mouth. Blooming peaks in warm months with bright light. Fruit, rarely seen indoors, is a long slender capsule.
How to Tell It Apart from Look-Alikes
- Goldfish Plant (Nematanthus) is a close relative with pouched orange flowers, but its blooms are puffy and goldfish-shaped rather than slim tubes from a dark calyx.
- Hoya species also have waxy trailing leaves but produce star-shaped flower clusters, not tubular red blooms.
- Columnea relatives have similar foliage; check for the distinctive dark calyx "tube" unique to lipstick plants.
The lipstick-from-a-tube flower is the clinching diagnostic.
Where You'll Find It
Native to the humid tropics of Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia), it grows as an epiphyte on trees. As a houseplant it is grown in hanging baskets in bright, indirect light with warmth and humidity. It is not winter-hardy and is kept indoors in most climates.
Quick ID Checklist
- Trailing stems with opposite, waxy dark-green leaves
- Tubular red flowers at stem tips
- Each flower emerges from a dark maroon/black calyx
- Semi-succulent, leathery foliage
- Grown as a hanging/cascading plant
If the red bloom appears to slide out of a dark tube like lipstick, you have correctly identified Aeschynanthus radicans.
Frequently asked questions
Why is it called the Lipstick Plant?
Because each red tubular flower emerges from a dark, tube-like calyx, looking just like a tube of lipstick being twisted up.
How is it different from a Goldfish Plant?
Goldfish Plant (Nematanthus) has puffy, pouched orange flowers shaped like fish. Lipstick Plant has slim red tubes rising from a dark calyx.
Are the leaves supposed to be waxy?
Yes. The thick, glossy, semi-succulent leaves are a normal feature that helps the epiphyte conserve moisture.
Does it need to hang?
It is usually grown in hanging baskets because its trailing stems cascade attractively, but it can also drape over a shelf or be staked.