Scientific Name: Cuphea x purpurea
Common Name: firecracker, bat-faced cuphea
Family Name: Lythraceae
Origin: Garden origin
Hardiness Zone: Zone 11: (above 4 °C)
Plant Type: Annual (grown as)
Mature Size: 0.2 - 0.4m x 0.3 - 0.6m (height x width)
Habit: Upright
Form: Mounded, Oval - vertical
Texture: Medium
Landscape Uses: Bedding plant, Container planting, Hanging basket, Small garden/space, Summer interest
Exposure: Full sun
Soil or Media: Well-drained
Leaves: Simple, Opposite, Soft flexible, Pinnate venation, Glandular hairs, Lanceolate, Obovate, Ovate, Entire
Flowers: Flowers clustered, Pink, Red, Jul-Aug
Fruit: Capsule, Aborted (hybrids) or absent, Brown, Sep-Oct
Key ID Features:
Leaves opposite, ovate-lanceolate, most 3-5cm long x 1.5-2.5cm wide, pubescent, dark green; florets tubular, 2-3cm long, calyx rose-red to pink-violet, petals red, 2-6 (when paired in some cultivare the floret may appear like a bat face).