''Linnaea floribunda'', also known as Mexican abelia, 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 ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the honeysuckle family,

Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species, in 33, to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America and ea ...

, native to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Growing to tall and broad, it is a semi-evergreen or evergreen shrub with shiny ovate leaves and clusters of tubular cerise flowers to long. The flowers bloom year-round (in the wild) except in the spring. It fruits (produces a seed pod) year-round (in the wild) except May and June. Though hardy down to , it prefers a sheltered location, for instance against a south-facing stone wall. Under its other name ''Vesalea floribunda'', it has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

’s

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

. It the wild in Mexico, its natural habitat is mixed Pine and oak forests and on rocky outcrops. Growing up to

altitudes Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

of between above sea level. Abelia floribunda (18150506772).jpg Abelia floribunda (17531456554).jpg

References

Caprifoliaceae Taxa named by Joseph Decaisne Taxa named by Alexander Braun Taxa named by Georg Carl Wilhelm Vatke Flora of Mexico {{Dipsacales-stub