自然游憩

保山青华海国家湿地公园管理中心

保山市科学技术协会

联合推出

第10期

The 10th Phase

被子植物.垂花悬铃花

Malvaviscus penduliflorus

被子植物门，锦葵科，悬铃花属。常绿小灌木，高达2米。原产墨西哥和哥伦比亚，世界各热带地区广泛种植。喜欢高温、多湿、阳光充足的环境，在我国主要分布在南部地区。垂花悬铃花在热带地区几乎可以全年开花，而且花量多，枝繁叶茂，耐修剪，是很好的绿篱植物，所以广泛用于园林观赏和绿化。但它们的红色花瓣从不张开，被称为“永不开放的花”。图片摄于云南保山青华海国家湿地公园。

垂花悬铃花叶子卵状披针形，先端长尖，通常边缘有小锯齿。红色的花单生于叶腋，5片花瓣旋转作含苞待放的筒状，下垂，细长的雌雄蕊伸出花瓣外。花梗很长，微风吹过，一朵朵垂吊下来随风摆动，好像红色的小铃铛，悬挂枝头。垂花悬铃花容易被误认为是没有开放的扶桑花，但对比后不难发现两者的区别：垂花悬铃花下垂且花瓣不张开，仅于上部略开展，而且伸出花瓣外的雄蕊柱头裂成10瓣，是扶桑的2倍，长得毛茸茸的。它一直不张开怎么知道它开没开花呢，当花蕊伸出花冠外的时候就表明它已经正式开花了，一直到花蕊凋萎前都算花期。

除了不会打开花瓣之外，垂花悬铃花还有个特点是只开花不结果。不是它本身只开花不结果，而是在中国未见结果。所以，垂花悬铃花很难通过有性繁殖繁育种苗，在生产中主要采用扦插繁殖。垂花悬铃花原产中南美洲，那里有蜂鸟，蜂鸟凭借独特的悬停能力和长长的喙，能够出色地为悬铃花完成传粉任务。中国没有蜂鸟，这或许是垂花悬铃花在中国未见结果的原因。

下次，如果你遇到这种红色的花，不妨等上一会，因为可能会有很多鸟儿和蝴蝶来光顾哦。在开花植物已经很少的冬天，垂花悬铃花还是灿烂地盛开着，为蓝喉太阳鸟等食蜜鸟类提供丰富的花蜜。太阳鸟也能悬停，而且也长着长嘴，理论上可以为垂花悬铃花传粉，但不结果的现实表明，太阳鸟似乎也不是这种花特别合适的传粉者呢。

The 10th Phase

Malvaviscus penduliflorus

Angiospermae, Malvaceae, Malvaviscus. Small evergreen shrub, up to 2 meters tall. It is indigenous to Mexico and Colombia, and widely planted in tropical regions of the world. They  mainly distributed in the south of China. And like to live in the environment of high temperature, wet and sunny. In the tropics, the Malvaviscus penduliflorus can bloom almost all year. It is abundant in flowers, with luxuriant foliage and is resistant to prun, which makes it a good hedge plant, so it is widely used for landscaping. But their red petals never open, so they are known as "the flowers that never open". The photo is taken in The Qinghuahai National Wetland Park in Baoshan city, Yunnan proince.

They have ovate-lanceolate leaves with tip top and zigzag edges. The red flowers grow solitary in axils, with 5 petals swirling in a budding tubular-shape, pendulous, and elongated pistil and stamen protruding from the petals. Their pedicels are very long. When breeze blowing, the drooping flowers swing with the wind, which looks like small red bells hanging from the branches. The Malvaviscus penduliflorus is easily mistaken recognized as non-open Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, but after comparison, it is not difficult to find the difference between them: the flowers of Malvaviscus penduliflorus are pendent and petals do not open, only slightly open in the upper part. Moreover, the stigma of the stamen out of the petals are split into 10 hairy petals, twice more than the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. How to know whether it is open or not since their petals are never open? When the stamens and pistil protrude out of the corolla, it indicates that it is officially in bloom. It is considered as the flowering period until the stamens and pistil wilted.

In addition to the fact that the petals do not open, another characteristic of Malvaviscus penduliflorus is that they only produce flowers but no fruits. It isn't fruitsless itself, but can not bear fruit in China. Therefore, it is difficult to breed seedlings through sexual reproduction, and cuttage are mainly used in production. Malvaviscus penduliflorus are solitarily to Central and South America, where they can pollinate the flowers perfectly by hummingbirds’ unique hovering ability and long beaks. We have no hummingbirds in China, maybe that is the reason why the Malvaviscus penduliflorus can’t bear fruits successfully in China.

Next time, if you see these red flowers, just wait for a little while, because a lot of birds and butterflies may be come to visit. In winter, when flowering plants are scarce, the Malvaviscus penduliflorus is still in splendid bloom, providing rich nectar for honey-eating birds such as the Mrs. Gould's Sunbird. Sunbirds that can also hover and have long bills could theoretically pollinate the flower, but the fruitless reality suggests that sunbirds are not the suitable pollinators for this flower.

摄影师介绍

Introduction of the photographer

黄木娇，保山青华海国家湿地公园管理中心工作人员，北京林业大学自然保护区学硕士，北京飞羽志愿者。从2014年开始观鸟。“观鸟是走进大自然的终生门票”。

Mujiao Huang, a staff of Management Center of Baoshan Qinghuahai National Wetland Park. The Master of Nature Reserve Science of Beijing Forestry University and is a volunteer of Beijing Feiyu. Starting birding in 2014. "Birding is a lifetime ticket to step into nature".

文字整理：黄木娇

海报设计：黄木娇

英文翻译：何雪、黄木娇

Text: Mujiao Huang

Poster design: Mujiao Huang

English translation: He Xue, Mujiao Huang