''Petalidium coccineum'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of a fast-growing shrub that bears red flowers and smooth, white bark. This shrub may grow up to 2.5 m in height. It is native to northwestern

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, particularly the dry

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

Kaokoveld The Kaokoveld Desert is a coastal desert of northern Namibia and southern Angola. Setting The Kaokoveld Desert occupies a coastal strip covering , from 13° to 21°S and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Namibian savanna woodla ...

and

Owamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Ovambo people. The term originally referred to the parts of ...

. Flowers occur in short

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s up to 40 mm long, borne in the leaf axils. Like other species in its genus, ''Petalidium coccineum'' bears hygroscopic fruit capsules which, when moist, release two flat seeds explosively.

Synonyms

* ''Petalidium rubescens'' Oberm. * ''Pseudobarleria coccinea'' (S.Moore) Lindau

References

PlantZAfrica.com entry

Aluka entry
* Obermeyer, A.A. 1936. The South African species of Petalidium. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 18: 151-162. {{Taxonbar, from=Q7171625 coccineum Creepers of South Africa Plants described in 1880