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Hamelia Patens Jacq. Firebush RUBIACEAE Synonyms

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Hamelia Patens Jacq. Firebush RUBIACEAE Synonyms View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by CiteSeerX Hamelia patens Jacq. firebush RUBIACEAE Synonyms: Hamelia erecta Jacq. Hamelia pedicellata Wernh. Hamelia latifolia Reichb. ex DC. terminal, a modified dichasium with flowers that are tubular, 12 to 22 mm long, and orange to red in color. The fruit is a berry, spherical to elliptical, 7 to 10 mm long, turning red and then black at maturity. The seeds are orange-brown, 0.6 to 0.9 mm long (Howard 1989, Liogier 1997). Range.—The native range of firebush extends from southern Florida and Bermuda, through the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, Trinidad and Tobego, and from Mexico through Central America and South America to Paraguay and Argentina (Little and others 1974). The species is also cultivated throughout the moist tropics and subtropics but is not reported to have naturalized outside its native range. Ecology.—Firebush grows in deforested areas, in thickets with other brushy species, in forest openings, or in the understory of low basal-area forest stands. The species is found in moist and wet areas that receive from about 1600 to about 3000 mm of precipitation. Firebush prefers loamy or clayey soil. It grows on soils derived from General Description.—Firebush, which is also volcanic and sedimentary parent materials and is known as hummingbird bush, scarletbush, most common in areas with limestone rocks. bálsamo, busunuvo, pata de pájaro, Doña Julia, fleur-corail, and many other names, is a medium- Reproduction.—Firebush flowers throughout the sized shrub. This shrub commonly ranges from 1 year. It is a hummingbird-pollinated plant to 3 m in height, but sometimes reaches 7 m in (Cunningham 1994). The flowers are also visited height (Howard 1989). It grows as a tree in the by butterflies (Desert-Tropicals 2001). There were Atlantic tropical lowland of Costa Rica (Paciorek 970,000 seeds/kg in a collection of seeds from and others 1995). Firebush has a tap and lateral Puerto Rico. Sown on wet peat, germination root system with abundant fine roots. The roots are started after 20 days and ended at 40 days with 46 red-brown. Stem bark is gray and smooth and the percent germinated. Although the species is a good inner bark is light green (Little and others 1974). producer of fruits and seeds in Puerto Rico, Plants may have single or multiple stems. The seedlings are not common. The fruits are eaten by twigs are orange to purple. Leaves are opposite or birds (Floridata 2001), which disburse the seeds. grouped in threes or fours, and finely hairy to Layering occurs whenever stems come in contact glabrous. The leaves have petioles 1 to 3.5 cm with the ground. The species can be propagated long and blades that are mostly ovate-elliptic to from seeds, but most commercial ornamentals are obovate-elliptic with an acute or acuminate tip. produced from cuttings. In one test, cuttings 15 cm The lateral and especially the midveins are red or long with four leaves, which had been taken from pink. In temperate areas, as the temperatures turn the shoot tip, treated with 4000 ppm of indol- cool in the fall, the foliage turns to a brilliant red— buteric acid (IBA) and planted in sand, gave the hence the common name. The inflorescence is best rooting (Bhattacharjee and Balakrishna 1992). Another experiment using an auto-humid chamber 26(2): 227-229. obtained 100 percent rooting of softwood cuttings treated with hormones and 40 percent without Desert-Tropicals. 2001. Texas firecracker bush, hormone treatment (Maiti 1974). scarlet bush. http://www.desert- tropicals.com/Plants/Rubiaceae/Hamelia_patens. Growth and Management.—In its native and html. 2 p. other frost-free habitat, firebush grows as a typical shrub, but cultivated in warm temperate areas with Floridata. 2001. Hamelia patens. hard frosts, it will freeze to the ground and sprout http://www.floridata.com/ref/h/hame_pat.cfm. again in the spring. Firebush is also planted as an 3 p. annual bedding plant in temperate climates. Ornamental plants need frequent watering during Howard, R. A. 1989. Flora of the Lesser Antilles, the establishment phase, but afterward, they are Leeward and Windward Islands. Vol. 6. Arnold drought tolerant (Floridata 2001). Pruning of Arboretum, Harvard University, Jamaica Plain, ornamental plants is recommended to keep them MA. 658 p. from becoming tall and spindly (Desert-Tropical 2001). However, pruning inhibits blooming, which Liogier, H.A. 1997. Descriptive flora of Puerto occurs at the terminals. Rico and adjacent islands. Vol. 5. Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR. Benefits.—Firebush is loved and planted as an 436 p. ornamental almost worldwide in warm, moist areas. The fruit is edible (Little and others 1974). Liogier, H.A. 1990. Plantas medicinales de Puerto A phytochemical screening found firebush tissues Rico y del Caribe. Iberoamericana de Ediciones, rich in phytochemicals including alkaloids and Inc. San Juan, PR. 566 p. flavonoids (Raintree Nutrition 2001). Firebush is used in herbal medicine to treat athlete’s foot, skin Little, E.L., Jr., R.O. Woodbury, and F.H. lesions and rash, insect bites, nervous shock, Wadsworth. 1974. Trees of Puerto Rico and the inflammation, rheumatism, headache, asthma, and Virgin Islands. Vol. 2. Agriculture Handbook dysentery (Liogier 1990, Mast Arboretum 2001, 449. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Raintree Nutrition 2001). Firebush is one of the Washington, DC. 1,024 p. woody species foraged by sheep and goats in brushy pastures in Costa Rica. These animals Maiti, R.G. 1974. Regeneration of terminal consumed 1.3 percent of their body weight of this greenwood cuttings of some ornamental shrubs species in a free-choice test (Benavides 2001). under auto-humid chamber. Plant Science 6: Firebush contains 17.5 percent crude protein and 104-105. has an in vitro digestibility of 61.6 percent (Benavides 2001). Mast Arboretum. 2001. Hamelia patens, firebush. Steven F. Austin State University. References http://www.sfasu.edu/ag/arboretum/plants/hamel iapatens/hamelia%20patens.htm. 3 p. Benavides, J.E. 2001. Arboles y arbustos forrajeros: una alternativa agroforestal para la Paciorek, C.J., B.R. Moyer, R.A. Levin, and S.L. ganadería. Conferencia electrónica de la FAO Halpern. 1995. Pollen consumption by the sobre la producción animal en Latinoamerica. hummingbird flower mite, Proctolaelaps http://lead.virtualcentre.org/es/ele/conferencia1/ kirmsei, and possible fitness effects on Hamelia bnvdes23.htm. 22 p. patens. Biotropica 27(2): 258-262. Bhattacharjee, S.K. and M. Balakrishna. 1992. Raintree Nutrition. 2001. Scarlet bush. Raintree Studies on propagation of Hamelia patens Jacq. Nutrition, Inc. http://www.rain- and Ixora singaporensis Hort. from stem tree.com/scarletbush.htm. 3 p. cuttings. Progressive Horticulture 24(3/4): 157- 164. Cunningham, S.A. 1994. Measuring the relationships between floral duration and fruit set for Hamelia patens (Rubiaceae). Biotropica _________________________________________ John K. Francis, Research Forester, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, Jardín Botánico Sur, 1201 Calle Ceiba, San Juan PR 00926-1119, in cooperation with the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, PR 00936-4984 .
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