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Mussaenda (a native name in Ceylon). Rubiaceae. Warmhouse or greenhouse plants grown for the flowers and the colored floral bracts or calyx-leaves.
Erect or climbing shrubs or under shrubs, sometimes herbs: lvs. opposite or in 3s, with stipules between, sessile or petiolate: fls. in terminal cymes, yellow, scarlet or white, the corolla tubular and usually funnel- shaped above and the lobes 5; calyx with an oblong or turbinate tube, one of the 5 lobes usually enlarged (in the cult.species) into a white or colored petioled lf. which may make the plant worth cult.; stamens 5, on the corolla-throat or -tube: ovary 2-celled, the style filiform and the stigmas 2: fr. a fleshy many-seeded berry, with an areole at top.-—Species probably 40, in the tropics of Afr., Asia and Polynesia. The few species that are sometimes grown are of easy cult.; prop. in spring by cuttings.
M. luleola, Delile. Slender erect twiggy shrub, pubescent: lvs. to 2 in. long, ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, thin, entire: fls. in 3s in few-fld. cymes, long-tubed, yellow; leafy calyx- lobe white or yellowish, ¾ in. or less long, oblong or ovate-cordate. Trop. Afr. B.M. 5573.—M. Treutleri, Stapf. Shrub, somewhat pubescent: lvs. ovate to ovate-elliptic, short-acuminate, to 12 in. long, entire: fls. orange, in many-fld. dense terminal clusters; leafy sepal or calyx-lobe white, shape of the lvs. Trop. Himalaya. B.M. 8254
The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.
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