Plant Name
Scientific Name: Anisacanthus thurberi
Common Names: Thurber's Desert Honeysuckle, Chuparosa
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Deciduous
Growth Habit: Shrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland, Riparian. It grows in sandy washes and rocky canyons.
Flower Color: Orange, Red, Orange-yellow, Orange-brown
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer
Height: To 6 feet (1.8 m) tall
Description: The flowers are tubular, 2 inches (5 cm) long, and have 4 curling lobes, 2 stamens, and a long, white pistil. The flowers bloom sporadically throughout the warm part of the year. The leaves are green, short-stemmed, lanceolate to elliptical in shape, and either opposite each other or in clusters on the stiff, woody stems.
Special Characteristics
Hummingbird Flower – The flowers attract hummingbirds.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Scrophulariales
Family: Acanthaceae – Acanthus family
Genus: Anisacanthus Nees – desert honeysuckle
Species: Anisacanthus thurberi (Torr.) A. Gray – Thurber's desert honeysuckle
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