Mussaenda erythrophylla

Native to tropical Africa, this scrambling shrub or climber grows in forests, riverbanks and clearing edges. Small, cream-white flowers open into five rounded lobes around a densely hairy, crimson throat. The much larger, red, leaf-like structures are enlarged sepals. Crosses with Mussaenda philippica have produced ornamental hybrids such as ‘Queen Sirikit’, with enlarged pink sepals. Its yellowish, oval fruits are covered in brown to red hairs. Photographed in Barranquilla, Colombia.