Firespike

Odontonema tubaeforme (Bertol.) Kuntze

oh-dont-oh-NEEM-ah too-bah-FORM-ee

Acanthaceae

Explanation of name:  Generic name means toothed filaments.  The specific epithet means tube-shaped.

Synonyms:

There has been nomenclatural confusion involving the names cited on this page.  The best known name is O. strictum.   I have followed the classification in http://www.hear.org/pier/species/

odontonema_tubaeforme.htm

Odontonema cuspidatum (Nees) Kuntze

Odontonema strictum (Nees) O. Kuntze

The specific epithet is sometimes spelled “tubiforme,” a discrepancy that seems to go back at least to the year the combination “Odontonema tubae[i]forme” was published.  The combination is based on Justicia tubaeformis Bertol., making the original spelling the “ae” form.  The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Rec. 60G.1.b) discusses the use of tubi- vs. tubae- in specific epithets, making it clear that tubi- is correct if “tube-formed” is the translation of the epithet, in contrast with “tubae-“ if the original author intended the epithet to mean “trumpet-formed.”   Since we do not know the intent of the original author, the best evidence of his intent is his spelling, which is tubae-.   Further, the flowers are trumpet-shaped, in the sense of ancient or angelic trumpets, and the Code admonishes in Article 60.3, “the liberty of correcting a name is to be used with reserve.”  For these reasons for present purposes we have retained the original spelling “tubaeforme.”

Natural range:  Tropical America, escaped in Florida

Recognition: Weak-stemmed shrub with scarlet, narrowly tubular, cigarette-sized scarlet (or purple) flowers in vertical spikes (these often broadened into a fan toward the top). 

Landscape uses:  Specimen plants with extremely showy flowers.