The magenta-pink beauty of this endemic Philippine flora captivated England so much that in 1854 it received an award from the Royal Horticultural Society of England. No one had yet seen such an unusual plant, with four brightly-colored leaves forming a cape over its stalk of small white flowers hanging overhead from the high bark of thick trees. The exotic kapa-kapa (kapa is Filipino for “cape”), as it is called in the Philippines, has since become popular among plant lovers.
Metro Manila dwellers may not have to look far to see this plant themselves, as they are only a car ride away from where the kapa-kapa was first discovered: Mt. Makiling.
