Family: Rubiaceae
Common name: Jungle geranium, Flame of the woods, Jungle flame, Ixora, Chethipoovu
Ixora plants can give you a true sense of the term – ‘blooming profusely through the year’. A native of Southern India, Srilanka and Bangladesh; this plant is now grown in gardens all over the world.
Plant characteristics
Ixora plants can grow to a height of 1-2 meters, sometimes as high as 3 meters. The leaves are glossy, and leathery with pronounced veins, and vary in size depending on the species.
Flowers are always borne in clusters, each bunch having as many as 50-60 flowers. Flowers are long and tubular with 4 distinct petals, and yellow or brown stamens in between the petals.
There are over 400 species of Ixora, but the most commonly grown ones are Ixora Coccinea, Ixora Pavetta, Ixora Macrothyrsa, Ixora Javanica, and Ixora Chinensis. It comes in a wide variety of colors for the flowers – red, yellow, orange, pink, white, and magenta.
Dwarf varieties of Ixora are also available, though they are tougher to grow and maintain, compared to the normal Ixora varieties. The plants produce a berry that’s initially green, and then turns red or purple with 1-2 seeds inside.
Gardening tips
The plant needs good sunlight and water to keep blooming. Once established, the Ixora plants grow well without too much maintenance.
They need watering and fertilization when the plants are small, and also during the summer months. The newer hybrids of Ixora are quite small and need regular maintenance.
But the olden variants are quite sturdy, growing and flowering abundantly with very little care. It can be pruned in desired shapes, even grown as hedges or separators in your garden.
Uses of Ixora plants
The leaves and flowers have some medicinal uses in the treatment of fever, headache, stomach ailments, dysentery, and tuberculosis. The wood of Ixora is also used for making small implements.
Ixora plants are mostly grown as ornamentals in home gardens. They are also very effective in attracting pollinators like bees, butterflies, insects, and small birds into the garden.
The ripe fruits are eaten by birds and small animals.
Propagation
Propagation is from seeds, and also from stem cuttings, with reasonable success rates.
The plant is capable of self-seeding, producing small plants from seeds that fall on the ground. Fruits and seeds are not commonly seen in hybrids plants bought from nurseries.
Photographed at: Various gardens in Bangalore and Kerala
