‘Hamelia -- Hummingbirds’ favourite

Amarjeet Singh Batth

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Hamelia patens nick named as ‘Hamelia’ may have a scraggy appearance, but is used commonly in gardens due to its hardy nature, ornamental, showy, conspicuous and bright flower with almost round the year flowering.

A member of Rubiaceae family it’s native to tropical America.

Local names include Fire-bush, Hummingbird bush, Scarlet bush. Its dwarf variety is getting quite popular as low cover or as shrubbery.

Description

Hamelia is large ( 8-10 feet in height) perennial, evergreen, woody shrub with a short bole around 8-10 cm in diameter with moderate growth rate.

The foliage is greenish bronze while leaves are petiolate, whorled, ovate, entire margin, acute apex, glabrous. Inflorescence is cymose, dichasial terminating into monochasial (helicoids).

Flower pedicilate, complete bisexual. It is reddish yellow and gives flowering through out the year except in extreme winters when plant sheds leaves and its fuzzy leaves also turn bright red.

Calyx has five sepals, gamosepalous, petaloid. Corolla with five petals, gamopetalous, tubular and widening upwards. Stamens five, polyandrous and epipetalous. Gynoecium is pentacarpellary, syncarpous. Small fruit is an ovoid dark red berry turning black at maturity.

Things to remember

Where to plant: This plant grows well in a range of soils, both alkaline and acid and love heat (similar to its native tropical range) with almost eight hours of sunlight and it bloom best when planted against southern facing wall. It can also be planted along a blank wall, fence, as casual hedge, as an accent plant, a stand-alone shrub or as backdrop for low-growing plants and in large container.

When to plant: It can be planted in ground or in pots anytime in the year provided you can maintain and sustain it well. Best time to plant in this region in July-August or February-March. Spacing is variable depending upon the type of layout. Dig pit 2×3 feet and add DAP and farm yard manure and water it. Let the mixture settle down. Now make a hole bigger than the root ball and lower it. Insert the root ball and press it firmly the plant from all sides. Water it and maintain the plant for next couple of months till it is established.

Care and Upkeep: This is a very low maintenance plant and is drought-tolerant once established. When grown in pot ensure the pot is large and has multiple drain holes and good drainage pot mixture. It is also not a heavy feeder but when potted the nutrients leach while watering, therefore an application of slow release fertiliser is essential. Plants need to hard prune in winters to keep in desired height, shape and also promote new growth and induce flowering. It is almost free from any serious pest and diseases. A dose of bone meal triggers plant growth and quality bloom

Importance: If you have fascination for hummingbirds and butterflies add Hamelia in your garden. Its planted in many parts of the world for local use as food, traditional medicine and source of tannins. Lots of research is going on to find more about its medicinal value.