Grown as a summer-flowering annual, cupheas require a
minimum of attention. Once established, they do not even have to be sown, as
they reproduce themselves from self-sown seed in the greatest profusion where
they were cultivated the previous season. The flowers are graceful, with red,
tubular, unusually shaped corollas. The leaves are lanceolate, opposite, and
entire. Particularly effective results can be obtained by associating cupheas
with dwarf blue ageratums, dwarf yellow-flowered snapdragons, or with the
silver- leaved Senecio maritima. The genus Cuphea comprises about two hundred
species native to South America; only two are normally cultivated as
summer-flowering annuals, the species C. ignea and C. Llavea. The name Cuphea
comes from the Greek kyphos and probably refers to the curved, humped form of
the seed capsule. In gardens the plants should be massed and grown like other
annuals, in beds, borders, for edging and also for cultivation in pots or
receptacles. Germination is easy and development is never capricious. The
flowering period is very long and the plants thrive in any normal garden soil
that is not excessively wet. Although they are sun-lovers, good results can be
obtained from planting in partial shade, but the plants require a long, hot,
sunny summer.
Cuphea
ignea Lem.
Native to Mexico. Flowers solitary, axillary, scarlet,
tubular, long, and conspicuous, with a black mark at the mouth of the tube.
Particularly suitable for cultivating massed in beds. Leaves lance-shaped,
long. Often grown as a pot plant for greenhouse use.
Cuphea Llavea
Lex.
Native to Mexico. Flowers coral-red, tubular, borne in
racemes. Leaves oval-lanceolate, long. The plant is slightly hairy and has a
compact, shrubby, much-branched habit. The var. Firefly has flowers of a more
intense red. There is also a rare white-flowered form.
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