Firebush (SPC Florida Plants )

Firebush

Hamelia patens

Summary ⁴

Firebush is a fast-growing, semi-woody, evergreen shrub or small tree that reaches a height and width of 8 to 12 feet tall without support. It can grow to 15 feet tall or more if given support on a trellis or other structure. The plant usually has multiple trunks, supported by a root system with abundant fine roots. The bark on the stem is a smooth light gray with persistent ring-nodes. Its densely-branched limbs may skirt the ground forming a billowing, globular crown, naturally rangy and opened. This Florida native has bright, slender, tubular flowers that appear in forking cymes at the tips of the branches throughout the year and reach a length of 1 to 1 ½ in. Flower buds emerge yellow, becoming orange as they mature, and develop a more pronounced orange-red to scarlet corolla upon pollination. Each flower has five short spreading lobes at the mouth, and about 12 hours in which to receive pollen for reproduction. The stamens are within and inserted on the corolla tube forming a distinct nectar cavity. The nectar is accessible to long-tongued insects, such as butterflies, and to hummingbirds and halictid bees. The bees are considered the principal pollinator as they crawl down the floral tube to gain nectar. Leaves can be quite varied. Most often they are light to dark green, but covered with red tomentum (hairs) when young and are speckled with red or purple at maturity. They are typically arranged in whorls of three leaves, but occasionally as many as five at each node. The leaf blades are entire, thin, elliptic to ovate and mostly short-pointed at both ends. They are usually 3 to 8 inches long and 1 to 4 inches wide with short petioles mostly not exceeding 1 1/2 inches long on the largest leaves. Leaves, often with wavy margins, are gray-pubescent underneath with reddish veins and petioles. Their fruit is an oval to elliptic berry with many small seeds, ripening from green to yellow to red and finally to black. Usually slightly more than 1/4 inches in length and diameter, they have a prominent apical ring which represent the scar of the floral parts. Mature berries are juicy, edible but not very palatable. Birds eat and disperse the small fruits and spread the seeds by elimination. Fruits not eaten by wildlife can persist on the plants for months eventually appearing like hanging black currants.

Sources and Credits

More Info

Range Map

iNat Map

Leaf shape	Elliptic, Ovate
Leaf type	Simple
Flowers	Red
Leaf arrangement	Whorled

‹ › ×