Bouvardia ternifolia, the firecracker bush, is a shrub widespread across much of Mexico, the range extending south into Honduras and north into the southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico and Texas).[2][3][4][5]
| Firecracker bush | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Rubiaceae |
| Genus: | Bouvardia |
| Species: | B. ternifolia
|
| Binomial name | |
| Bouvardia ternifolia | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Bouvardia ternifolia is a shrub up to 120 cm (4 feet) tall. It has dark green, narrowly egg-shaped leaves. Flowers are speculacular: long, tubular, bright scarlet, up to 10 cm (2 inches) long, in clusters at the ends of the branches. Hummingbirds frequently imbibe the nectar from the blooms.[6][7][8][9][10][11]
Bouvardia ternifolia is widely cultivated as an ornamental because of its showy flowers. It contains Bouvardin which has demonstrated certain anti-cancerous activities.[12][13][14]
References
edit- ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Bouvardia ternifolia
- ^ Biota of North America Program
- ^ CONABIO. 2009. Catálogo taxonómico de especies de México. 1. In Capital Nat. México. CONABIO, México D.F.
- ^ Hooker, William Jackson & Arnott, George Arnott Walker. 1840. Botany of Captain Beechey's Voyage 427, Bouvardia tolucana
- ^ Cavanilles, Antonio José. 1797. Icones et Descriptiones Plantarum 4: 3, pl. 305, Ixora ternifolia
- ^ Schlechtendal, Diederich Franz Leonhard von. 1854. Linnaea 26: 98. Bouvardia ternifolia
- ^ Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas, Native Plant Database, Bouvardia ternifolia
- ^ Correll, D. S. & M. C. Johnston. 1970. Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas i–xv, 1–1881. The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson.
- ^ Davidse, G., M. Sousa Sánchez, S. Knapp & F. Chiang Cabrera. 2012. Rubiaceae a Verbenaceae. 4(2): i–xvi, 1–533. In G. Davidse, M. Sousa Sánchez, S. Knapp & F. Chiang Cabrera (eds.) Flora Mesoamericana Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
- ^ Schlechtendal, Diederich Franz Leonhard von
- ^ Bailey, L.H. & E.Z. Bailey. 1976. Hortus Third i–xiv, 1–1290. MacMillan, New York.
- ^ color illustration of Bouvardia houtteana (syn of Bouvardia ternifolia), published 1855
- ^ Schlechtendal, Diederich Franz Leonhard von, in Planchon, Jules Émile. 1855. Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe 10: 149, t. 55.
