Mussaenda erythrophylla Schumach. & Thonn.

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Gentianales > Rubiaceae > Mussaenda > M. erythrophylla

Description: Shrubs or woody climbers, 1.5-3(>8) m tall, often with drooping or climbing branches and copiously pilose branchlets; leaves, 5-12 cm long and 3-8 cm wide, oval-ovate to almost cordate (when young), acuminate, base obtuse to slightly decurrent, copiously pilose, prominently veined; petioles, 1-6 cm long; stipules, interpetiolar; inflorescences, terminal, several-flowered, branched, corymbose cymes; calyx, 5-lobed, one of the lobes (rarely 2) enlarged, petal-like, up to 9 cm long and 6.5 cm wide, ovate-lanceolate, lax-pendant, bright red above and somewhat paler beneath, palmately veined, pubescent, the other lobes, up to about 1 cm long and 2 mm wide, narrowly linear-lanceolate, caducous, bright red, calyx tube reddish-pubescent; corolla, about 2.5 cm long, tubular, 5-lobed, red-pubescent outside with tube white or pale-yellow within distally; stamens 5, included; fruit, a berry with numerous minute seeds.

Flowering and Fruiting: Flowers throughout the year but usually does not produce fruits

Uses : Mussaenda erythrophylla is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant for its long-lasting showy and colourful inflorescences. This species is also used in traditional African and Asian medicine for the treatment of eye infections, intestinal worms, body ache, diarrhoea and dysentery

Cultivation : Cultivated, Ornamental

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org