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Warszewiczia coccinea
Also called Wild Poinsettia
Warszewiczia coccinea is an evergreen shrub or small tree of the coffee family, native to lowland forests from Nicaragua to Bolivia and the southern Caribbean, valued for its large red bracts. It is the national flower of Trinidad and Tobago and is grown as an ornamental in warm, humid climates.
Warszewiczia coccinea (or chaconia, wild poinsettia, pastora del monte and pride of Trinidad and Tobago) is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is native in the south of Central America from Nicaragua southward, the southern West Indies, and southward through northern South America to Bolivia and central Brazil. It is the national flower of Trinidad and Tobago.
This evergreen shrub or small tree grows to 6 metres tall, with leaves up to 60 cm long and 30 cm broad. It is remarkable for its inflorescence, a verticillaster up to 50 cm long with up to a dozen clusters with bright red bracts (up to 7 by 5 cm) and small flowers with inconspicuous yellow petals.
It is widely grown as an ornamental tree. A cultivar, Warszewiczia coccinea 'David Auyong', which has a double row of bracts, is the most widely cultivated form. This plant originates from cuttings taken from a wild plant found growing along a Trinidad roadside in 1957. All double chaconias have been propagated by cuttings from this individual.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Warszewiczia coccinea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
