cuphea hyssopifolia
{{short description|Species of flowering plant in the family Lythraceae}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{speciesbox
|image = Cuphea hyssopifolia.jpg
|genus = Cuphea
|species = hyssopifolia
|authority = Kunth
}}
Cuphea hyssopifolia, the false heather, Mexican heather, Hawaiian heather or elfin herb, is a small evergreen shrub native to Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.{{cite book|author=Tenenbaum, Frances|title=Taylor's Encyclopedia of Garden Plants|publisher=Houghton Miiflin Co.|year=2003|page=121|isbn=978-0-618-22644-3}}{{GRIN | accessdate=24 July 2011}}
Description
It grows to about {{convert|60|cm|0|abbr=on}} high by {{convert|90|cm|0|abbr=on}} wide and has purple, lavender or white coloured flowers and fine foliage. Its leaves are small, narrow and dark green. The fruit is a capsule that contains small globose seeds.
The Latin specific epithet hyssopifolia (which also occurs in several other plant names, including that of Bassia hyssopifolia) means "hyssop-leafed",James Donn, Hortus Cantabrigiensis: or, a Catalogue of Plants, Indigenous and Exotic (1809), p. 5 referring to the fine, narrow leaves of that plant.
Habitat
It is present in hot, semi-warm and temperate climates between 500 and 2,240 meters above sea level. An ornamental plant grown in orchards and gardens, it grows on the banks of streams, associated with disturbed vegetation of tropical deciduous and sub-deciduous forests, as well as mountain mesophilic forest.
The species is naturalised in Hawaii, and regarded as a serious weed there.{{cite book|author=Harrison, Marie|title=Groundcovers for the South|publisher=Pineapple Press|location=Sarasota, Florida|year=2006|page=30|isbn=978-1-56164-347-9}}
Cultivation
In cultivation, the species adapts to a range of soils in a sunny or partially shaded situation with good drainage. It can be cultivated outdoors in USDA hardiness zones 8B-11, but does not tolerate freezing temperatures. In colder regions it may be cultivated as an annual. Plants may be propagated by cuttings, layering or division. They seed freely, and new seedlings that appear are easily transplanted.
This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit{{cite web|title=Cuphea hyssopifolia|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/5036/Cuphea-hyssopifolia/Details|publisher=Royal Horticultural Society|access-date=2020-04-17}} (confirmed 2020).{{cite web | url= https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants – Ornamental | date = December 2020 | page = 28 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | access-date = 10 January 2021}}
Cuphea pn.JPG
細葉雪茄花 20190608191515.jpg
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [http://www.budgetplants.com/shrubs/foreground/false-heather-cuphea-hyssopifolia Data Sheet Resource: Cuphea hysoppifolia]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5194465}}