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 ntroduced |
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Common name: Firebush, Scarlet bush, Hummingbird bush, Muna মুনা (Bengali)
Botanical name: Hamelia patens Family: Rubiaceae (coffee family)
Firebush is a showy, fast-growing, semi-woody evergreen shrub that can get up
to 15 ft (4.6 m) tall under ideal conditions, but usually stays much smaller.
It has whorled leaves, usually with three but occasionally as many as seven at
each node. Throughout the year, firebush produces showy terminal clusters
(cymes) of bright reddish-orange or scarlet tubular flowers, each about 0.75
in (1.9 cm), long. Even the flower stems are red. The clusters of fruit also
are showy. Each fruit is a juicy berry with many small seeds, ripening from
green to yellow to red and finally to black. A firebush plant usually has
flowers and fruit in various stages.
| Photographed in Sonipat,
Haryana |
Identification credit: Rita Singh
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