Plate 083 · flowering spray with a hummingbird IdentificationSix marks on the plate
- 1Inferior ovary at the base of the tube; it becomes the berry.
- 2Long floral tube scarlet, much longer than the sepals and petals.
- 3Short spreading sepals around darker red petals.
- 4Protruding stamens and style, where the hummingbird touches the pollen.
- 5Large elliptic leaves with a reddish midrib.
- 6Elongated berries dark purple when ripe.
Easily confused with Garden fuchsiaFuchsia magellanicaShort-tubed flower with violet petals. Grown in gardens and usually seen near houses. 083 / 100 · PLANTS · ONAGRACEAENOT EVALUATED Bolivian fuchsia
Fuchsia boliviana
Aljaba · Lady's eardrops
A cloud-forest shrub with hanging clusters of long-tubed red flowers. The colour and shape are typical of hummingbird-pollinated flowers. In Tucumán it grows on forest edges, in damp ravines and in clearings of the montane forest.
- Habit
- Shrub, 2 – 4 m
- Flower
- 3 – 7 cm, scarlet
- Fruit
- Purple berry, 1 – 2.6 cm
- Range
- Peru, Bolivia and NW Argentina
- Native
- Hummingbird flower
- Forest edges
- Edible fruit
Altitude rangeIn the cloud forest
Tucumán records (approx.) Tucumán records come from the montane forest belt, for example in PN Aconquija and the Monteros area. The altitude range is approximate.
EcologyBuilt for hummingbirds
- Hummingbirdspollinators · nectar in the tube
- Fruit-eating birdseat the berries and spread the seeds
- Part shadeforest edges and clearings
- High humiditymisty ravines
The red, scentless, long-tubed flowers hold their nectar at the bottom. Only a long bill reaches it. The berries are edible.
Life cycleFrom flower to berry
- Hanging clusters. Flowers come in terminal clusters up to 20 cm long that hang below the leaves.
- Ovary below the flower. The ovary is inferior. After flowering it swells into a dark purple berry.
- Quick to regrow. A fast-growing shrub that fills clearings and roadsides in the forest.
Where to look in Tucumán- PN Aconquija
- Río Los Sosa
- Cuesta del Clavillo
- Sierra de San Javier