Cantua

Did you know

• Cantua is the national flower of both Bolivia and Peru, revered since the time of the Inca Empire as the sacred 'flower of the Incas.'
• The Inca people used it in religious ceremonies and called it 'qantu' in Quechua — its flowers were offered to the sun god Inti.
• The drooping, trumpet-shaped flowers are perfectly adapted to hummingbird pollination along high Andean slopes at 8,000–12,000 feet.
• It is the only species in the Andean region of Polemoniaceae with such large, showy flowers — related distantly to phlox and Jacob's ladder.
• In traditional medicine, cantua flowers were used by Andean communities to treat respiratory ailments and as a mild sedative.

Color meanings

Uses

• ornamental
• cultural and religious ceremonies
• traditional medicine