Red mussaenda

Scientific Name :

Mussaenda erythrophylla Schum. & Thonn.

Synonym(s) :

Mussaenda splendid Welw.

Local/Common name(s) :

Red mussaenda

Family :

Rubiaceae

Habit :

Shrubs

Flowering/Fruiting Time :

Habitat :

In forests, along rivers and at the edges of clearings.

Endemic :

No

Status (IUCN) :

Least concern (LC)

Distribution :

Throughout Tropical Africa

Nativity :

Exotic

Uses :

Ornamental

Description (Morphology) :

Climbing shrub to 1.5 – 8 m. Tall, branches sensely covered with patent or crisped, straw –coloured to reddish hairs; lenticels sometimes visible as small whitish streaks. Leaf blades elliptic to round. Flowers heterostylous, in usually dense, compressed panicles. Calyx-tube obovoid, 3-5 mm. Corolla with tube greenish to reddish outside and lobes white to yellow or pinky above. Distance from the throat to the top od anthers 5.5-8.5 mm. Fruit yellowish, ellipsoid. Seeds straw-coloured to blackish.