Plant of the Week 08/22/2005: Firebush (Hamelia patens)

Plant of the Week 08/22/2005

Hamelia patens Jacquin

Photographed by: Chelsie Vandaveer
Credits: Firebush photographed in Chelsie's garden.
Other Information: Olympus C-8080z

The Mexican firecracker or firebush (Hamelia patens Jacquin) is a member of the Rubiaceae, the madder family, native to Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and south to Bolivia. This large shrub can grow to 15 feet high, and almost as wide, and may be trained as a small tree. In temperate climates where soils chill, the plant is used as an annual, often in hanging baskets.

In the tropics and subtropics, firebush grows year-round; therefore the wood does not lay down growth rings like other woody plants. New branches are red and the leaves are paired or in whorls of three at the nodes.

The flowers are borne in terminal cymes. Each tubular bloom lasts only a day, but cyme adds buds and may continue flowering for weeks. Except for a brief rest, firebush blooms most of the year. The flowers attract honeybees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

For all the beauty of a firebush, the leaves have long been used for healing wounds. Among healers in eastern Mexico, the leaves were purported to stop bleeding even with deep wounds. Consequently, the leaves have been the subject of several studies.

Extracts of the leaves were found anti-inflammatory, reducing the edema (swelling) associated with injury, and antibacterial, protecting against infection. But the leaves have an added benefit. Wounds treated with an extract were 'knitted' stronger than wounds that healed on their own.

(Compiled from: "Hamelia", Hortus Third, Staff L.H. Bailey Hortorium, NY State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Macmillan, NY 1976; "Ethnopharmacology of the Popoluca, Mexico: and evaluation", M. Leonti, H. Vibrans, O. Sticher, and M. Heinrich, Journal of Pharmacology, Dec. 2001; "Screening of the topical anti-inflammatory activity of some Central American plants", S. Sosa, M.J. Balick, R. Arvigo, R.G. Esposito, C. Pizza, G. Altinier, and A. Tubaro, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, July 2002; "Screening of anti-bacterial activity of medicinal plants from Belize (Central America)", A. Camporese, M.J. Balick, R. Arvigo, R.G. Esposito, N. Morsellino, F. DeSimone, and A.Tubaro, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, July 2003; and "Double incision wound healing bioassay using Hamelia patens from El Salvador", A. Gomez-Beloz, J.C. Rucinski, M.J. Balick, and C. Tipton, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Oct. 2003)