Hummingbird Bush
Hamelia patens
Also known as Scarlet Bush, Fire Bush
- Habit
- Shrub
- Found in India
- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
How to identify Hummingbird Bush
Identify Hummingbird Bush by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a shrub habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Tubular orange-red flowers attracting hummingbirds/butterflies (firebush).
- Confirm leaf surface: Glabrous (smooth, hairless).
- Confirm flower colour: Orange.
- Confirm fruit type: Berry.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: Throughout the year.
- In India, compare location records such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana and nearby regions.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Hamelia patens
- Genus
- Hamelia
- Family
- Rubiaceae
- Habit
- Shrub
- Native to
- Tropical America
- Distribution
- Cultivated in most parts of the world
- Found in India
- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Assam, Punjab, Bihar, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf surface
- Glabrous (smooth, hairless)recorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Opposite
Characters marked “recorded” are for Hummingbird Bush itself; the rest are typical of the Rubiaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Orangerecorded
- Fruit type
- BerryrecordedA fleshy fruit with seeds embedded directly in the pulp, no central stone.“The fruit is a small dark red berry, turning black at maturity.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Cyme
- Fruit
- Berry
Characters marked “recorded” are for Hummingbird Bush itself; the rest are typical of the Rubiaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Malayalam
- വിടരാപ്പൂവ്
About Hummingbird Bush
A member of the Rubiaceae family, Hummingbird Bush (Hamelia patens) is a shrub. In India it has been recorded in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and 18 other states. It flowers and fruits through much of the year.
Rubiaceae
Coffee/Madder family
Hummingbird Bush belongs to the Rubiaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
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