Bouvardia ternifolia, the firecracker bush, is a shrub widespread across much of Mexico, the range extending south into Honduras and north into the southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico and Texas).Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Bouvardia ternifoliaBiota of North America ProgramCONABIO. 2009. Catálogo taxonómico de especies de México. 1. In Capital Nat. México. CONABIO, México D.F.Hooker, William Jackson & Arnott, George Arnott Walker. 1840. Botany of Captain Beechey's Voyage 427, Bouvardia tolucana
Bouvardia ternifolia is a shrub up to 120 cm (4 feet) tall. It has dark green, narrowly egg-shaped leaves. Flowers are speculacular: long, tubular, bright scarlet, up to 10 cm (2 inches) long, in clusters at the ends of the branches. Hummingbirds frequently imbibe the nectar from the blooms.Cavanilles, Antonio José. 1797. Icones et Descriptiones Plantarum 4: 3, pl. 305, Ixora ternifoliaSchlechtendal, Diederich Franz Leonhard von. 1854. Linnaea 26: 98. Bouvardia ternifoliaLady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas, Native Plant Database, Bouvardia ternifoliaCorrell, D. S. & M. C. Johnston. 1970. Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas i–xv, 1–1881. The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson.Davidse, G., M. Sousa Sánchez, S. Knapp & F. Chiang Cabrera. 2012. Rubiaceae a Verbenaceae. 4(2): i–xvi, 1–533. In G. Davidse, M. Sousa Sánchez, S. Knapp & F. Chiang Cabrera (eds.) Flora Mesoamericana Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.Schlechtendal, Diederich Franz Leonhard von
Bouvardia ternifolia is widely cultivated as an ornamental because of its showy flowers. It contains Bouvardin which has demonstrated certain anti-cancerous activities.Bailey, L.H. & E.Z. Bailey. 1976. Hortus Third i–xiv, 1–1290. MacMillan, New York.color illustration of Bouvardia houtteana (syn of Bouvardia ternifolia), published 1855Schlechtendal, Diederich Franz Leonhard von, in Planchon, Jules Émile. 1855. Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe 10: 149, t. 55.
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photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Nuevo León in 1983 photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Nuevo León in 1846