虾子花 Woodfordia fruticosa

  • Scientific Name: Woodfordia fruticosa (L.) Kurz
  • Ref: J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 40:56. 1871
  • Synonyms:
    • Acistoma coccineum Zipp. ex Span.
    • Grislea punctata Buch.-Ham. ex Sm.
    • G. tomentosa Roxb.
    • Lythrum fruticosum L.
    • L. hunteri DC.
    • L. punctatum Span.
  • English Common Name: fire flame bush
  • Chinese Common Name: 虾子花 xiāzǐ∙huā, 吴福花 wúfú∙huā
  • Japanese Common Name: ニジカケバナ [虹架花] nijikakebana
  • Family: Lythraceae
  • Genus: Woodfordia
  • Distribution: Common in forests and on open slopes. Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand].
  • Photo: Fairylake Botanical Garden, Shenzhen, Guangdong
  • Note: The genus Woodfordia is named after Charles Morris Woodford. One of the Chinese common names, 吴福(花) is a transliteration of Woodfordia.
Shrubs, 1-5 m tall. Stems and branches pendulous, long, pubescent when young, becoming glabrous. Leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 3-14 × 1-4 cm, leathery, abaxially sparsely to densely tomentose and orange to black glandular punctate, adaxially glabrous, base rounded to subcordate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences condensed axillary shoots of 1-15 flowers. Floral tube light red, red-orange, or deep red, greenish basally, narrowly cyathiform, 9-15 mm; sepals oblong-ovate or deltate, 2-3 mm; epicalyx segments scarcely present. Petals 6, thin, linear-lanceolate, 1-5 mm, ca. as long as sepals. Stamens 12 , inserted above ovary base, long-exserted. Ovary 2-loculed; ovules 100+. Capsules elongate, elliptic. Seeds reddish brown, ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. Jan-May (mainly Mar-Apr), fr. Apr-May. 2n = 16. (Flora of China)

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