Scarlet Wrightia

  This one made me do a double take! Look at the velvety pink petals that gently curl under. The brilliant rosy center with pointed stamens ending in a bright dot!

Wrightia is a genus of 23 species of flowering plants in the Apocynaceae (dogbane) family, native to tropical Africa, Asia and Australia. The species are all small trees or shrubs that contain latex. The genus was named for William Wright (1735 –1819) the Scottish physician and botanist by William Roxburgh.

Scarlet Wrightia is a small tree up to 20 m tall. Bark is pale gray to brownish; branchlets warty, hairless. Leaf-stalks are about 5 mm. Leaves are elliptic to ovate, 5-17 X 3-8 cm, hairless or hairy along veins on the underside, tip long-pointed. Lateral veins are 8-14 pairs. Showy scarlet flowers are borne singly or in cymes, 2-3.5 cm. Sepals are broadly ovate, 5-9 mm. Flowers are reddish, funnel-shaped. Tube is bell-shaped, shorter than the sepal cup, petals are broadly obovate. Corona is crimson, cup-shaped, tip incised. Anthers protrude out. Seed pods are linear, fused, 14-20 cm, prominently spotted. Seeds are linear, about 2 cm. 

Wrightia coccinea, Apocynadeae
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, FL

Tags: tree with latex, my gear and me, latex, fuzzy scarlet flower, fuzzy pink flower, dogbane, Wrightia coccinea apocynadeae, Wrightea coccinea, SuperShot, Oleander, NGC, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

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