Hamelia patens
Family: Rubiaceae
Plant Description: Is an evergreen shrub or small tree with bright tubular flowers and glossy leaves. Evergreen shrub or small tree that typically grows 3–4 meters(10–12 feet) tall and spreads about 1.5–2.5 meters (5–8 feet) wide It has a woody, branched stem with a solid, erect structure and a branched taproot system. The leaves are arranged in whorls of 3–4, elliptic to ovate-oblong, measuring 5–12 cm long. They are usually glabrous on the upper surface and tomentose beneath, with an entire margin and acute or acuminate tips. The leaves are gray-green with pinkish veins, and they may turn red in the fall. Hamelia patens produces bright orange to scarlet tubular flowers, 1.3–1.5 cm long, arranged in terminal or axillary cymes that are corymbiform or helicoid The flowers are almost sessile, with very short pedicels, and have five stamens inserted near the middle of the corolla tube. The corolla is gamopetalous, twisted, and tubular, while the calyx is minute and petaloid. The fruit is a globose to ellipsoid-oblong berry, 6–8 mm long, which ripens from green to red and eventually purplish-black.
Plant Trivia:
Field Identification: Terminal clusters of five-lobed, tubular, bright-red flowers are followed by dark-red berries. The leaves of this showy, tropical shrub are either opposite or whorled. The plant grows 3-6 ft. high in the northern part of its range and up to 15 ft. in the southern part.
Occurrence: Native to tropical America. Native to tropical America, Hamelia patens is cultivated in Florida, Mexico, the Caribbean, and parts of India.
Bloom Period: Year Round
Plant Use: These flowers are nectar rich. attracting hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Landscaping.
Key to Genera if needed:
stxflora 