Ixora coccinea

Jungle flame flower

Scientific name: Ixora coccinea

Family: Rubiaceae

It is a dense, multi-branched evergreen shrub

 The glossy, leathery, oblong leaves are about 10 cm long, with entire margins, and are carried in opposite pairs or whorled on the stems.

 Small tubular, scarlet flowers in dense rounded clusters 5.1–12.7 cm across are produced almost all year long. 

This woody, evergreen, flowering shrub native of southeast Asia 

 it  does not tolerate temperatures below 50 degrees and may die back in other zones. 

 It can regenerate in the spring or be grown in containers and brought indoors in the winter.  

It grows in a bushy, rounded form with 4" long, glossy, dark evergreen leaves and summer blooms of 4 petaled red flowers in 5" wide cymes.

 The fruits are round and dark purple to black.

  Ixora prefers full sun in moist, well-drained, acidic but organically rich soils. 

 It can tolerate small amounts of shade in the afternoon heat.