They are beautiful flowers  |
Fuchsia magellanica flowers
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Fuchsias are a group of some 105 species, native mostly to South America, in the evening primrose family, Onagraceae.
Fuchsia was named by French botanist and missionary to the Caribbean, Charles Plumier (1646-1704, biography) for the prominent German botanist Leonhard Fuchs (1501-1566 biography). Although sometimes called lady's eardrops, usually the common name and the scientific name are the same, Fuchsia. But English speakers struggle trying to say "foock see a," partly because it is hard to say, partly because the preteen in us giggles like crazy saying Fuchs, so is usually pronounced "few sha", leading to all kinds of mispellings.
Most fuchsias are from tropical South America, with a few species growing as far north as Mexico and a handful found in south Pacific island and New Zealand. As tropical plants, most can survive no frost, so are grown outdoors in tropical and subtropical regions and as houseplants elsewhere.
The exception is Fuchsia magellanica, which has a native range that reaches the tip of South America. The species epithet magellanica refers to the Straits of Magellan by Cape Horn in southernmost Chile. It will survive moderate frosts. It is grown outdoors in places with mild climates such as Denmark and the U.S. South. In southern Ireland, it has escaped to become a roadside weed. That was where I was enchanted to see it.
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Fuchsia magellanica gets called fuchsia as a common name. To be more specific call it hardy fuchsia or magellan fuchsia. In its native region, it is called chilco and aljaba. Hardy fuchsia grows to be a shrub 3' to 15' tall. The flowers have red sepals around purple petals. Inside, the stamens and styles are red, the white pollen on the tips of the stamens conspicuous. In its native range, hardy fuchsia is pollinated by hummingbirds, plus a few other birds, and a few bees. However, if no pollinator comes by, the plants will self-pollinate, which is how they have naturalized in Ireland, east Africa, New Zealand, and Hawaii. The fruits, usually very dark red, are attractive to birds and so fuchsias are dispersed when the birds defecate the seeds.
Other Fuchsia species have other pollinators and other dispersal mechanisms; the genus is quite diverse.
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| Hardy fuchsia along and on a rock wall in Ireland |
In cultivation for more than 200 years, commercially-offered hardy fuchsias come in colors from red and purple to white. However, wild populations of hardy fuchsia include plants from red and purple to white, so plant breeders have capitalized on natural variation, rather than created new flower colors.
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| white form of hardy fuchsia in a garden |
Both hardy fuchsia and other fuchsia make good house plants, including from hanging baskets.
Garden books wax poetic about the beauty of big plants of hardy fuchsia in full bloom, attracting multiple hummingbirds.
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| hardy fuchsia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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| Hardy fuchsia in an Irish garden, probably intentionally planted |
In South America, hardy fuchsia was and is widely used as a medicinal plant. The Mapuche in Patagonia gave a tea of the leaves, in water or wine, to women having difficult deliveries and to help with problems of mensturation. Farther north, where it grows in the mountains, an infusion of the bark was drunk for indigestion. In Ecuador, hardy fuchsia leaves were part of drink given as a sedative. There has not been a lot of modern research testing these uses, but a study of the reaction of mice to hardy fuchsia supported to the traditional uses.
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naturalized hardy fuchsia, between the sidewalk and the road,
southwestern Ireland |
A striking and readily-recognized plant from South America, hardy fuchsia.
Comments and corrections welcome.
References
Bernal Ochoa, A. M.., G. A. Colareda, and 5 others. 2021. Intenstinal/uterine antispasmodics, sedative effects of Fuchsia magelanica Lam. leaves, floewrs extracts and their flavonolic components. Phytomedicine Plus. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phyplu.2021.100060 link
Haene, E. 2007. 100 Flores Argentinas. Editorial Albatros. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Traveset, A., M. F. Willson, and C. Sabag. 1998. Effect of nectar-robbing birds on fruit set of Fuchsia magellanica in Tierra Del Fuego: a disrupted mutualism. Functional Ecology. 12:450-464.
Wikipedia and other general websites for background information and to check spelling.
For those who don't read the internet or prefer books, I gathered posts from this blog into actual books, for example:
NoCo Notables, Stories of common plants of the Colorado Front Range, Many plants have cool stories, about their interactions with other plants and animals and with humans. Go beyond just having a name for the plant, learn more about it.
Available from Amazon
link or from me. NOW ON KINDLE!
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