Heather, Mexican

Cuphea hyssopifolia, commonly called Mexican heather, is native from Mexico to Guatemala. It is a rounded, densely branched 1-2’ tall tropical sub-shrub. It produces quaint, small, trumpet-shaped flowers with six spreading lavender petals and green calyx tubes. Flowers appear singly in the leaf axils along stems crowded with lance-shaped glossy green leaves (to 3/4” long). Blooms profusely summer to frost. Although heather-like in appearance, this plant is not a member of the heather family, hence the sometimes used common name of false heather. Some white- and pink-flowered cultivars are available. Flowers are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies.