Scarletbush

patens: spreading, diverging from the axis at almost 90 degrees

Shrub to c. 4 m, or, less often, a small tree to 7 m. Leaves opposite or in whorls of 3(-5), elliptic or ovate, petiolate. Corolla to 2 cm, scarlet to orange. Fruit c. 7 mm, ovoid, dark red or purple.

Florida and West Indies, south to Bolivia and Paraguay

Hamelia nodosa Mart. & Gal. Bull. Acad. Brux. II 1 : 234
1844.
Hamelia viridifolia Wernham, Jour. Bot. 49: 213. 1911.
A shrub 2.5-6 meters high, the branches stout, glabrous or sparsely puberulent when young; stipules small, deltoid-subulate; leaves mostly quaternate, the petioles stout, 0.5-1 cm. long, minutely puberulent or glabrate, the blades elliptic -oblong, oval, elliptic, or ovate, 4-9.5 cm. long, 1.7-4.2 cm. wide, rounded to attenuate at the base, often short-decurrent, acute or short-acuminate at the apex, bright-green above, glabrous, paler beneath, villosulous or minutely puberulent along the principal veins or glabrate, the lateral nerves 6-S on each side, arcuate-ascending; inflorescence terminal, many-flowered, the branches puberulent, the flowers sessile or subsessile, seeund; calyx and hypanthium 3-4 mm. long, sparsely puberulent, the calyx-lobes minute, deltoid; corolla red, tubular, 1.8-2.2 cm. long, minutely puberulent, swollen at the base, the lobes ovate, acutish, almost 1 mm. long; anthers 8-10 mm. long, partly exserted; fruit oblong-cylindric, 8-10 mm. long, glabrate; seeds 0.8-1 mm. long, brown, lustrous, finely foveolate.
Type locality: Savannas of Mirador, Veracruz, altitude 900 meters. Distribution: Veracruz and Oaxaca to Panama, in wet forest or thickets.

Hamelia patens Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 16. 1760; Sel. Stirp
Am. 72. 1763.
Hamdia erecla Jacq. Ennm. PI. Carib. 16. 1760; Sel. Stirp. Am. 71. 1763.
Hamelia eoeeinea Sw. Prodr. 46. 1788.
Hamelia patens var. erecla Lam. Encvc. 3: 68. 1789.
Duhamelia patens Pers. Syn. PI. 1: 203. 1805.
Hamelia patens var. quinifolia DC. Prodr. 4: 442. 1830.
Hamelia vertieillata Moc. & Sesse; DC. Prodr. 4: 442, as synonym. 1830.
Hamelia lanuginosa Mart. & Gal. Bull. Acad. Brux. II 1 : 233. 1844.
Hamelia pedicellata Wernham, Jour. Bot. 49: 212. 1911.
Hamelia palens var. axillaroides Wernham, Jour. Bot. 49: 216. 1911.
Hamelia Brittoniana Wernham, Jour. Bot. 49: 346. 1911.
A shrub or small tree 1-4 meters high, the branches brown or grayish, the branchlets villous or puberulent when young, often glabrate; stipules 3-6 mm. long, triangular-acuminate; leaves mostly ternate, the petioles slender, 1-5.5 cm. long, villous or puberulent, the blades lance-oblong, elliptic-oblong, elliptic, ovate, oval, or rounded-oval, 5.5-21 cm. long, 2-9 cm. wide, rounded to acuminate at the base, usually short-acuminate at the apex, sometimes acute, obtuse, or abruptly acuminate, membranaceous, bright-green above, puberulent, villosulous, or nearly glabrous, the costa impressed, the lateral nerves mostly plane, paler beneath, usually copiously villosulous, villous-tomentose, or puberulent, especially along the veins, the areoles usually pubescent but sometimes glabrate, the lateral nerves prominent, 7-10 on each side, arcuate; inflorescence terminal, many-flowered, the branches often much elongate in fruit, the flowers sessile or short-pedicellate, seeund; calyx and hypanthium 2.5-3 mm. long, sparsely or densely puberulent or villous with short or long hairs, the calyx-lobes minute, deltoid or broadly deltoid; corolla tubular, 1.5-2 cm. long, orange-red, sparsely or densely puberulent or villosulous or farinose-puberulent, the lobes minute, obtuse or acutish, erect; filaments very short, the anthers 9-10 mm. long, conspicuously exceeding the corolla-lobes; fruit subglobose or oblong-ellipsoid, 6-10 mm. long, 4-6 mm. thick, villosulous, puberulent, or glabrate, often shallowly sulcate, red; seeds 0.8 mm. long, brown or yellowish-brown, lustrous, foveolate.
Type locality: Forests near Cartagena, Colombia.
Distribution: Peninsular Florida; in thickets, Veracruz to Yucatan and Panama; West Indies; Colombia to Bolivia and Paraguay.

Hamelia intermedia Urban & Ekman; Urban, Ark. Bot. 24A 1 :
46. 1931. A small tree, with dense rounded crown, the branchlets pulverulent-pilosulous, the branches quadrangular; stipules triangular-lanceolate, 2 mm. long; leaves ternate, membranaceous, the petioles 1-4 em. long; leaf-blades ovate or oval-elliptic, 7-12 em. long, 3.5-5 cm. wide, shortly acute-acuminate, narrowed to the petiole, the costa impressed above, prominulous beneath, the lateral nerves 8 or 9 on each side, ascending at an angle of 50-60°, minutely pilosulous on both surfaces, barbate beneath in the axils of the nerves, in age sometimes glabrate ; inflorescence terminal, 3-5-branched from the base, the branches several times cymose, the branchlets as much as 10-flowered and 9 cm. long, the pedicels 1.5-6 mm. long; calyx-lobes broadly triangular, 0.3 mm. long; corolla bright-orange, 25 mm. long, the tube gradually ampliate almost from the base, 6 mm. broad at the mouth, the lobes 3 mm. long; fruit narrowly ovoid, conicproduced above the calyx, 7-8 mm. long, 4-4.5 mm. wide.
Type locality: Western part of Massif de la Hotte, near Les Abricots. Haiti, on coral limestone.
Distribution: Haiti.

Hamelia patens is a large perennial shrub or small tree in the familyRubiaceae, that is native to the American subtropics and tropics. Its range extends from Florida in the southern United States to as far south as Argentina. Common names include firebush, hummingbird bush, scarlet bush, and redhead. In Belize, this plant's Mayan name is Ix Canaan and is also known as "Guardian of the Forest".