Can someone please help me ID this plant? I've looked at Firecracker plants, Acanthus and Agastaches, but I'm hoping one of y'all can help me get a positive ID. My mailman brought me a cutting, but didn't know what it was. This little thing isn't showy, but it blooms constantly and the hummers love it.
This message was edited May 21, 2007 12:54 PM
It's called Mexican Cigar, Cuphea ignea
http://www.rubythroat.org/CigarMexicanMain.html
Thanks very much bettydee. I knew somebody on here would know!
That is a beautiful Cigar Plant. The hummingbirds are going to love it!
Carla
If the blooms are rather small, it may be the "David Verity' which is a hybrid cultivar of C. ignea and C. micropetala parentage. I love mine.
The blooms are a little over an inch long and less than 1/2" diameter. I thought the blooms slightly resembled my Bat Face Cupheas. Guess they're cousins!
That's about the size my 'David Verity' blooms are. Yep, they sure are.
I like my Bat faced cuphea but it is a more sprawling plant for me. This one looks more upright. How tall and wide does it get here in texas for everyone?nancy
Teacup, I haven't had it that long, so I'm not sure of the mature size yet. It was put in late last summer and then froze back to the ground this winter, but came back from the roots. As of today, it's about 18" tp 24" tall, and about the same across. It's against the back fence behind some cosmos and it doesn't show up very well there. If it doesn't get any taller than this, I may have to move it to a location toward the front of the bed so it can be seen. It's a very pretty little plant. I love the bat face cupheas too, but like yours, mine are more sprawling. I wish they were a little more dense and compact, but I can't bear to cut the blooming ends back. The stems are quite brittle and the entire top of one broke off while trying to get it out of it's root bound pot for planting. I went ahead and stuck it in the ground thinking it might not make it. It's a lot fuller than the other ones I put in at the same time. Guess I should have chopped them all back!
The upright cuphea's (actually all of them) are really easy to root, too--if you need more plants.
The C. micropetala tends to have a lot more yellow in it than the variety you have ('David Verity') and larger blooms. This is C. micropetala today--it does freeze down to ground level every single winter (its about 10 yrs old) but never fails to return, bigger and stronger every year.
Debbie
teacup754, when mine was in the ground, it was about 3.5 to 4 feet tall and about 3 feet wide when it did not freeze back in the winter. I dug it up because other larger native plants were crowding it out plus it wasn't getting enough sun. It needs at least 4 hours of direct sunlight a day. I put it in a large container and placed it in front of my garage where I can enjoy the blooms everday, close up and personal. It did not move it into the greenhouse this winter so it froze back when it stayed at 23 degrees for a long time. Mine is about 2 feet tall and 1.5 feet wide right now after freezing back. If you do a search for it on the internet, the sizes listed for it varies. I think that normally it grows to about 4 to 4.5 feet tall and 3 feet are so wide. Mine is scraggly looking right now and has been blooming for a while. I have found that it does not grow as robustly in a container as it does in the ground. Also, it does not produce as many flowers in the cluster when its in the container. I probably need to fertilize it plus it is not receiving enough sunlight. I believe it has a taproot also and needs more space for the taproot to grow. It is sort of vase shaped and is more upright growing than the bat-face cuphea.
crowellli, I can't bring myself to trim back my bat-face cupheas either. The blooms are just too cute. They froze to the ground; however, they are pretty large now and blooming up a storm.
dmj1218, yours has the larger bloom. Thanks for posting it. It is a beautiful plant. I had been wondering what type yours was because I have seen one in someone's yard.
