Firebush
വിടരാപ്പൂവ്
Hamelia patens Jacq.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 1.7 m
- wide
- 1.2 m
Rubiaceae
Also called Mexican Firecracker, Scarletbush
Formerly Duhamelia odorata, Duhamelia patens, Duhamelia sphaerocarpa, Hamelia brachystemon, and 18 more
When it flowers
Flowers all year in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Shrub or treeKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Seasonally dry tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Trop. & Subtrop. AmericaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from NC State Extension and UF/IFAS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension full, part; UF/IFAS full, part, shade
- Height
- 1.1 m to 2.3 mRead from NC State Extension and UF/IFAS, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: NC State Extension 1–3 ft; UF/IFAS 6–12 ft
- Spread
- 91 cm to 1.5 mRead from NC State Extension and UF/IFAS, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: NC State Extension 1–2 ft; UF/IFAS 5–8 ft
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension and UF/IFAS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Flowers
- Orange, redRead from NC State Extension and UF/IFAS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension orange, red, yellow; UF/IFAS orange, red
- Coldest it survives
- -6.7 °C (USDA zone 9a)Read from NC State Extension and UF/IFAS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- root
- cacahuaxóchitl, chac-loc, muiti
- Spanish
- Coralillo, trompetilla, Fosforillo
- Chinese
- 醉嬌花, 長隔木 (希美利), 长隔木
- Chinese (China)
- 长隔木, 希茉莉
- Russian
- Гамелия отклоненная
- Thai
- ประทัดไต้หวัน
- Hebrew
- המליה מבודרת
- Finnish
- kolibrintulipensas
- Portuguese
- Amélia, valmoura, mato-de-oreção
- Slovak
- hamélia odstávajúca
- Afrikaans
- Vuurbos
- Simplified Chinese
- 希茉莉, 长隔木
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- UF/IFAS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Hamelia patens (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.