Ixora

Ixora coccinea and hybrids

ix-ORE-ah cox-INN-ee-ah

Rubiaceae

Explanation of name:  Coccinea means scarlet.

Natural range: Asia

Recognition: Usually mid-sized shrubs with (usual for Rubiaceae) opposite leaves having a singular triangular stipule between the leaf bases. Flowers having long narrow tubes topped with 4 petals. Flowers usually red but may be orange, yellow, pink, or white.

Landscape uses: Extremely popular showy-flowering masses and hedges on acid soils. Ixoras are normally sun-loving.  Selections with broad, deep green leaves are often planted in surprisingly severe shade with satisfactory results, if not strong flowering.  The orange-flowered cultivar ‘Aurora’ is particularly shade tolerant. Other cultivars are numerous, some dwarf. ‘Nora Grant’ is a much-grown pink-red-flowered selection, so often cited that the application of the name is inconsistent.