FoI
Red Wing
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Red Wing
ntroduced Photo: Tabish
Common name: Red Wing
Botanical name: Heteropterys glabra    Family: Malpighiaceae (Barbados cherry family)
Synonyms: Heteropterys angustifolia, Heteropteris lanceolata

Red Wing is a climbing shrub with an erect, tree-like form, with heads of showy red-pink winged maple-like fruits. Stems are flexible, forming an irregularly shaped canopy. Leaves are to 3 inches long, very narrow, pointed, dark green, no hairs and rather shiny. Flowers are yellow with a touch of red, in showy inflorescences at the end of branches. Flowers have 5 inverted egg shaped petals, with narrow base and a rounded tip. Fruit is biwinged, red-crimson color, very showy, in summer and autumn. Red Wing is originally from the Savanna grasslands of South Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and NW Argentina. It is now grown as an ornamental plant. Soil should be soft, moist, well drained. Direct sun or partial shade. It is reportedly used in popular medicine as sedative. Reproduction is by seeds, multiplication by cuttings.

Identification credit: Josh Photographed in Garden of Five Senses, Delhi.

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