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Don Manuel / Firebush-Hamelia Patens |
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Written by Bonsai King
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Wednesday, 16 December 2009 13:26 |
Local Name:
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Don Manuel / Firebush
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Scientific Name:
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Hamelia Patens |
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Family:
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Habitat
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Native to the tropics. Also found in sub tropics. American subtropics to Argentina and Southeast Asia
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Propagation
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Soft wood cuttings or by seed
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Comments
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| Don Manuel or 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. The leaves are elliptic to oval, about 6 in (15 cm) long, and gray-pubescent underneath with reddish veins and petioles. They are reflexed upward from the midvein. 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. Hence, a favorite to butterflies and birds |
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 July 2010 15:51 |