An intriguing greenhouse plant I’d long vaguely known of just never got round to growing is this curiously named Mexican Cigar flower, Cuphea ignea. Obviously it could not really grow cigars, and seeing it was neither scented nor edible this ranked low on my list to try.
Well what a pleasant surprise, not difficult to grow and soon throwing a really attractive brightly coloured indeed as if on fire, long lasting display. Admittedly just as expected these did not look very much at all like cigars, and all wrong, a cigar does not burn along it’s entire length! The ‘Cigar flower / plant’ appellation seems to have arisen as a marketing ploy, ‘Red-hot suppository’ would be more accurate though perhaps a tad less appealing.
That aside this Cuphea is excellent value, flowering all summer and autumn from an early spring sowing. Commercially plants are widely available and cuttings root fairly readily. As a tender perennial this can be kept going for years, easily pruned it can stay compact, though as often the case newly sown plants perform the better.
Start early in warmth as for say, tomatoes, with a well drained sandy compost, ideally enriched with leaf mould. Sow thinly, pot up early, feed and water regularly but avoid waterlogging at all costs. Pests and disease seldom bother though mould threatens if cold or poorly ventilated.
A warm bright position suits these best, they make attractive colourful ‘repetition’ set amongst a large display. Their near fluorescent colour matches some Pelargoniums and appears identical with extremely bright New Guinea Impatiens in my last blog.
The Latin name Cuphea comes from Kyphos, curved seed pod, and ignea, fiery red, though initially C. platycentra, a wide flat spur. AND seldom ever found in horticultural nomenclature, the Mexican part is unbelievably correct, really does come from there. Introduced here in 1845 and with other species very popular in hot houses of the day, even the acerbic Paxton concedes “rather a pretty genus”.
The original Cuphea ignea is also available as plants (not seed) with variegated leaves, and another 20 plus species sold commercially. Sadly out of 250 or so, all native to central American region, few are perfumed save C. lanceolata which can have a pleasing scent resembling incense.