''Cestrum fasciculatum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Solanaceae The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orn ...

known by the common names early jessamine and red cestrum. It is native to central

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, but it is also kept elsewhere as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

. This is a gangly evergreen

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

reaching a maximum height of over two meters. The stems, and especially new twigs, are sometimes purple in color and slightly hairy. It bears hairy, oval-shaped, pointed green leaves up to 13 centimeters long. Plentiful

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s appear at the tips of stem branches, each a dense cluster of up to 10 hairy red flowers. Each tubular flower is 2 or 3 centimeters long, counting the elongated calyx of

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s and the long corolla. The fruit is a berry about 1.5 centimeters wide which is red on the outside and white inside with about 10 small brown seeds.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPlant of the Week
fasciculatum Flora of Mexico {{Solanales-stub