Mussaenda erythrophylla Schumach. & Thonn.


Family: RUBIACEAE
Sub-Family: Not available
English Name: Red Mussaenda
Synonym: Mussaenda splendida Welw.
Common Name: Ashanti blood,a red flag bush and tropical dogwood
Flowering & Fruiting Period: December - June
Distribution: Native of tropical Africa
Habitat: Grown as garden plant
Uses: Ornamental
Key Characteristics: An ornamental shrub or tree that can reach a height of 30 ft, though in cultivation ranges from 3 to 10 feet tall. A semi-deciduous rambling shrub with multiple stems, covered with opposite leaves that are medium to dark green, round to ovate.It flowers almost non-stop through the year with several flowers borne in branching terminal panicles. Each flower is composed of a small creamish white corolla that is five-lobed, funnel-shaped with a crimson-red felt center, together with a single roundish-ovate and enlarged bright red sepal (bract).