This attractive foliage plant is native to Ecuador and Peru, where it can be found in the understorey of tropical rainforests. It grows to around 2 m and has large, pointed, green leaves with distinctive yellow veins. It bears tubular yellow flowers in summer (though mine has yet to bloom). It is a frost-sensitive plant, but seems to survive through winter in some Sydney gardens. In cold climates, it is grown as a greenhouse plant in a pot, and put outside in summer.
It seems to grow best in part-shade, in reasonable soil - but will survive some periods of dryness. Keep it on the dry side in winter. It will wilt in full sun on hot summer days. A member of the Acanthaceae family, it pairs well with the yellow-flowered shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeeana), which belongs to the same family, or any other yellow-flowered or -foliaged plant that grows well in shade. It can be propagated from softwood cuttings in spring or semi-ripe cuttings in summer. The best time to plant out these sorts of frost-sensitive specimens is in late spring, rather than autumn, so that they can establish well before winter.
Postscript: despite two attempts, I was not able to keep this plant going through winter. I imagine it would do better in suburbs closer to the coast, though I have seen it doing very well in a suburb not far from mine! A good substitute for it is the yellow-veined Iresine herbstii 'Aureoreticulata' , which grows readily in Sydney gardens.