I cannot remember when I first saw this plant but its unusual but striking orange-red flowers never fail to grab my attention. However, the current botanical name is really a mouthful and always stumps the layman. It was previously known as Senecio confusus, which was a much simpler name by comparison.But the easiest name may be its common name Mexican Flame Vine, which I suppose gives an idea of its origin.
The newly bloom inflorescence starts out orange but turns red as it ages. The small true flowers or florets (both sterile and fertile) surrounded by a ring of elongated petals are typical of the daisy-like flowers from the Asteraceae family (formerly Compositae). The toothed leaves are dark purple-red when young and turn green when mature.
I have a cutting of this at home that grew to about 1.5 m but it has yet to flower for me after almost a year! It just kept sprouting more and more leaves which I have to keep pruning back. I am thinking of how to stress it to flower. Hopefully I succeed soon. Otherwise, I would have to give it up for something else.
