I think it may be a species F regia var regia.
I am no expert on species fuchsias but some year ago I was told about an herbarium specimen in the local Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden collected some 50 years earlier in an indigenous forest near Knysna a coastal village 600 km south east from Cape Town. We contacted the local forester and were given an approximate location - somewhat to our surprise we found it along a gravel road deep in the forest - the forest is said to still have elephants roaming but they have not been seen for years!
We took cuttings and I have it growing at home - I have shown photos to experts overseas and the likely ID is F regia regia a native of Brazil. We sent stick cuttings to Arthur Tickner UK for DNA fingerprinting for a definite ID but this has not yet been done.
Interestingly the postulate is that early sailors, making use of trade winds made landfall in Brazil before crossing the Atlantic to round the Cape of Good Hope en route to the Far East. Knysna used to be a small port and it is presumed sailors must have brought it there - how it landed deep in the forest remains a mystery but we did see a hedge of it in a forester's cottage. .

Reply from Ireland
Your mystery plant looks like Fuchsia regia ssp regia to me. It known as
"the Climbing Fuchsia", because it will scramble through shrubs
and appear high up in them to flower. Funnily enough I bought a rooted
cutting of it at a show a month ago and its grown about 250mm already. There
is more info on the 'net. Good Luck with your garden.


