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(Photo right, Fuchsia encliandra: Wayne Oldfield Worksop England)
The ENCLIANDRA "Group" of fuchsias.

(Click here to see a close-up of the flower (26 K))
(Click here to see a white encliandra (17 K))

I am not sure this is a true species growing here with me. There are lots of hybrids around in this "group" of fuchsias. The flowers are extremely small, just around 1/5 of an inch (4-5 mm). The leaves of the bush are also very small (1/2 inch - 1 cm) at the most. Very unpredictible growth. One branch here one there. Thin branches.

They VERY often set fruit, totally round, black berries.

(Sorry to say, but I don't know much about this group of fuchsias, although I have around ten varieties. I'm totally confused about which one is a species and which one is a hybrid, so I just call them "my encliandras". If you know more about them, please e-mail me...)

This is what Leo Boullemier says about Encliandra in his book:

'Encliandra Section, species. Fuchsia section Encliandra. Correct designation of the section of species previously known as Breviflora. The section consists of 6 species compiled from The Systematics of Fuchsia Section Encliandra (Onagraceae) by Dennis Eugene Breedlove of the University of California (1969).

All the species in this section have their flowers in two forms, one in which they are female, smaller and lacking in stamens, the other male or perfect flowers. In addition to the 6 species there are 9 subspecies (ssp) and the hybrid Fuchsia x bacillaris. The 6 species are: F. encliandra (staminate and pistillate flowers), F microphylla (pedect and pistillate), F. obconica (staminete and pistillate), F. parviflora (staminate and pistillate), F ravenii (pedect and pistillate), F thymifolia (pedect and pistillate)

All have tiny flowers either red, pink or white producing two forms of flowers. F. encliandra, F. obconica and F parviflora produce both staminate (male flowers having stamens but no pistil) and pistillate flowers (female flowers having pistils but no stamens). The others produce both perfect (with male and female reproductive parts) and pistillate flowers.

They form erect shrubs which are usually hardy, and where not cut back each year become tall and straggly plants and being hardy, take quite low temperatures. Apart from the true species and the subdivided subspecies. there is also the hybrid Fuchsia x bacillaris, identified by most of the cultivated plants grown today and have previously been incorrectly identified as other species.

Natural habitat is Mexico to Panama (Central America) in temperate or cool temperate cloud forests of evergreen pine-oak trees and shrubs at elevation of 4,500 to 10,500ft. The berries of plants in this section have 6 to 36 seeds compared to over 100 seeds per fruit in the other sections of the genus. It is the only section where episepalous stamens reflex backwards into the tube.