Common Name: Mexican heather
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Lythraceae
Native Range: Bolivia to Brazil and northern Argentina
Zone: 7 to 10
Height: 0.50 to 1.25 feet
Spread: 1.00 to 2.00 feet
Bloom Time: April to November
Bloom Description: violet-pink
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Ground Cover, Naturalize
Flower: Showy
Culture
Best grown in evenly moist, well-draining soil in full sun. Hardy in Zones 7-10.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Cuphea glutinosa, commonly called sticky waxweed, is a perennial, herbaceous subshrub native to moist woodland openings, wet meadows, and fields from Bolivia and eastern Brazil south to northern Argentina. It has escaped cultivation and can be found in Mauritius and portions of the southern United States. Mature plants will reach up to 15” tall and spread to fill a 2’ area with a multi-stemmed, spreading to decumbent growth habit. The thin, decumbent stems may root where they contact the ground, allowing for vegetative spread. The oppositely arranged, sessile (held close to the stem without a distinct petiole), oblong-lanceolate to ovate or elliptic shaped leaves will reach up to 0.5” long and 0.25” wide. The stems and leaves both have stiff, glandular hairs on their surfaces. Small, violet-pink, six petaled blooms are borne singly in the leaf axils along the tops of the stems from spring through fall.
Genus name comes from the Greek word kyphos meaning curved or humped in probable reference to the shape of its seed capsules.
The specific epithet glutinosa means “sticky”, in reference to the glandular hairs found on the leaves and stems of this species.
Problems
No major pest or disease problems of note.
Uses
Mixed beds, borders, pond edges. Mass to form ground cover.