• Scientific Name: Hamelia patens Jacq.
• Ref: Enum. Syst. Pl.:16. 1760
• Synonyms:
  • Duhamelia patens (Jacq.) Pers.
  • D. sphaerocarpa (Ruiz & Pav.) Pers.
  • Hamelia brachystemon Wernham
  • H. brittoniana Wernham
  • H. coccinea Sw.
  • H. corymbosa Sessé & Moc.
  • H. erecta Jacq.
  • H. intermedia Urb. & Ekman
  • H. lanuginosa M.Martens & Galeotti
  • H. latifolia Rchb. ex DC.
  • H. nodosa M.Martens & Galeotti
  • H. ovata Wernham
  • H. patens var. axillaroides Wernham
  • H. patens var. glabra Oerst.
  • H. patens var. quinifolia DC.
  • H. pedicellata Wernham
  • H. sphaerocarpa Ruiz & Pav.
  • H. suaveolens Kunth
  • H. tubiflora Wernham
  • H. verticillata Moc. & Sessé ex DC.
  • H. viridifolia Wernham
  • Schoenleinia thyrsoidea Miers
• English Common Name: firebush, hummingbird bush, scarlet bush, redhead
• Chinese Common Name: 长隔木 chánggé∙mù, 希茉莉 xīmòlì, 醉娇花 zuìjiāo∙huā
• Family: Rubiaceae
• Genus: Hamelia
• Distribution: Cultivated in gardens in Fujian, Yunnan [native and weedy in Mexico, United States (Florida), and the Caribbean region, Central America, and tropical South America; cultivated as a perennial in tropical regions and an annual or indoors in temperate regions worldwide].
• Photo: 06/21/2009, South China Botanical Garden, Guangdong

Shrubs, deciduous, 1.5-4 m tall; branches angled to subterete, often becoming red, hirtellous or pilosulous to glabrescent. Leaves 2, 3, or 4(or 5) per node; petiole 1.5-4.5 cm, pilosulous or hirtellous to glabrous; blade drying papery to membranous, elliptic to oblanceolate, 7-20 × 4-6 cm, both surfaces pilosulous or hirtellous to glabrescent, base cuneate to acute, apex acute to weakly acuminate; secondary veins 7-9 pairs, in abaxial axils frequently with pilosulous domatia; stipules narrowly triangular to subulate, 2-6 mm, hirtellous or pilosulous to glabrescent. Inflorescences corymbiform, villosulous or pilosulous to glabrescent; peduncle 1-8 cm; branched portion corymbiform, 1.5-7 × 1.5-9 cm; bracts reduced or triangular, 0.2-0.5 mm. Flowers subsessile to pedicellate; pedicels to 2 mm. Calyx hirtellous to glabrous; ovary portion ellipsoid, ca. 3 mm; limb deeply lobed; lobes triangular, 0.8-1 mm. Corolla red to red-orange or yellow, narrowly tubular, outside puberulent to glabrous; tube smooth to shallowly 5-ribbed, 16-23 mm; lobes ovate-triangular, 1-2 mm, acute. Berry ovoid, 6-7 mm in diam., puberulent to glabrescent. Fl. May-Dec. (Flora of China)