Cuphea llavea
Batface Cuphea
Family: Lythraceae
Herbaceous perennial growing about two and a half feet high and wide. In containers they may arch over the sides of the pot. Red & purple flowers that resemble a batface can occur whenever there is warm weather and attract hummingbirds and other pollinators.
Grow in full to part sun, regular water, hardy to 25° F or lower, and reemerge from the roots if frozen down. This is a riparian species so keep well-watered. If plants suffer from a lack of water, cut back and feed and with regular water, they recover magnificently.
Hummingbird pollinated.
Cupheacomes from the Greek word kyphos meaning curved or humped in probable reference to the shape of its seed capsules. The species llavea named for Pablo de la Llave, 1773-1833, a traveler in Mexico. There are about 250 species of Cuphea native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas.
Native throughout Mexico, as close as Sonora and Baja California mostly in riparian regions.