Eastwood, Alice (1859-1953) – Eastwood was a renowned Canadian-American botanist active at the California Academy of Science in San Francisco. In 1890 she assumed a post in the herbarium and was given a position as joint Curator of the Academy with Katherine Brandegee in 1892. By 1894, with the retirement of Brandegee, Eastwood was procurator and head of the department of botany, a position she held until she retired in 1949.

Ignoring the destruction of her own home and loss of most of her possessions, Eastwood heroically saved the Academy's type plant collection after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. She had segregated the type specimens from the main collection and, while much was lost, this system permitted her to retrieve about 1500 of the invaluable type specimens from the burning Academy building in short time to take them to safety.

Among her many, many achievements in botany, Eastwood was one of the founding members of the American Fuchsia Society in 1929 and was instrumental in holding the young Society together in its early years as a number of its original eleven members fell away. For the quickly undertaken census of fuchsias growing in gardens and nurseries in California, she instructed society members and others on how to properly take and mount specimens to send to her at the Academy. In 1931, she published "True Species of Fuchsia Cultivated in California" (National Horticultural Magazine, 10:2:100-104). In recognition of her contributions, the American Fuchsia Society honored her with its Medal of Achievement in 1949. The hybrid, 'Alice Eastwood,' was also named for her by Hazard & Hazard in 1929.

Despite most of a lifetime spent in San Francisco, and her decades-long dedication to that city and to the native plants of California, the pioneering Eastwood was oddly to be buried In Toronto after her death in 1953. She now rests under a simple, nondescript flat marker in ➤ Toronto's Necropolis, in a city that she had left behind at the age of fourteen. The San Francisco Botanical Garden, however, does have the Alice Eastwood Garden established in her honor by the San Francisco Garden Club in 1971 and planted with fuchsias. The marker there seems more suited to the spirit of her life even if it doesn't cover her actual remains. Unfortunately the Eastwood Garden is hidden away in a inside corner at the main entrance and currently languishes somewhat from neglect and encroachment from a children's activity area. The Alice Eastwood Redwood Grove in Humboldt County, which she worked to save, also stands as a fitting memorial to the life and work of this great woman.

(Illustrations: 1. Eastwood viewing a rift in the Olema Valley north of San Francisco caused by the 1906 earthquake. G. K. Gilbert, U. S. Geological Survey, 1906; 2. Sorting botanical specimens in the field in 1929, the year she helped found the American Fuchsia Society. MSS. 142, Alice Eastwood Papers, California Academy of Sciences Archives, San Francisco, Calif.)

Eburnea – Ivory white. A pale-flowered selection of F. magellanica described as F. magellanica var. eburnea (Pisano 1979). This designation, however, no longer has any taxonomic status and should now only be written as F. magellanica 'Eburnea.' F. magellanica 'Alba' (Clarence Elliot 1932) and 'Molinae' (Espinoza 1929) are two further, even more pale-flowered horticultural selections that are also synonyms for F. magellanica. Of unknown origin, F. magellanica 'Lady Bacon' is a seemingly identical selection to F. magellanica 'Eburna'. See also ➤ Alba for more details.

(Illustrations: 1. Two pale-flowered individuals of F. magellanica. ➤ "Fuchsia magellanica var. alba y var. eburnea" [sic], Jamesuc2010, 2010, Wikipedia.org; 2. Detail of an eburnea-like ➤ F. magellanica specimen preserved at the Arizona State University Vascular Plant Herbarium and collected in Magellanes, Chile. ➤ Full specimen.)

Edibility – Fuchsias are not toxic to humans and all parts are edible, from the berries to the flowers, or even the leaves.

The berries of several Fuchsia species are especially relished. These include Fuchsia boliviana (regularly eaten by native peoples in the Andes), F. excorticata (traditionally eaten by the Maori who called the berries Konini) and F. magellanica (first eaten in Chile and Argentina by the Mapuche and other native peoples, but still widely consumed throughout their natural range.). The elongated berries of F. splendens are also considered tasty by connoisseurs.

The taste is variously described as lemony or peppery and has a pleasing sub-acid quality. The berries on most cultivars, however, varies considerably in their taste as most were bred for the look of their ornamental flowers rather than their berries. Fuchsia berries are said to be high in Vitamin C and antioxidants. They’re eaten fresh or used in recipes such as jellies, jams and puddings. A common problem with cooking with the berries is simply collecting enough of them from the typical garden to be useful. See Recipes.

Fuchsia flower are edible, as well, and can used as a floral garnish in salads and elsewhere. Scientific studies have shown that the flowers are high in anthocyanins, the group of compounds that give these flowers their red and blue coloration. Anthocyanins are strong antioxidants and further studies need to be undertaken to determine the precise health benefits eating fuchsia flowers might have as part of a diet.

See ➤ Scientific Bibliography.

Elegans – Elegant. F. elegans (Salisb. 1791) is a synonym of F. coccinea (Aiton 1789) in ➤ Section Quelusia.

Elliptic – Shaped like an ellipse or oval. The term is applied to fuchsia leaves with this general outline.

Ellobium – From the Greek ellobion, or earring. Ellobium fulgens (Lilja 1841) is synonymous with F. fulgens (De Candolle 1828). It had previously been transferred from another now invalid genus, Spachia fulgens (Lilja 1840), before finally being settled back in Fuchsia. The name was later revived for the Ellobium section of the genus, however (Breedlove, Berry, Raven 1982). See F. fulgens in ➤ Section Ellobium; Fulgens; Spachia.

Encliandra – From the Greek for "enclosed male," referring to the fact that the flower's stamens are enclosed within the floral tube. Encliandra parviflora (Zuccarini 1837) in now synonymous with F. encliandra (Steudel 1840). See F. encliandra in ➤ Section Encliandra, of which there are three recognized subspecies.

Encliandras – The ➤ Encliandra Section species, as well as their hybrids, characterized by similar miniature flowers and the same general lacy-leaf effect of the foliage characteristic of the plants in the section. Some typical Encliandra hybrids are 'Cherry Pop', 'Irish Cup' and 'Lottie Hobbie'.

Endemic – Unique to a specific geographic area.

Entire – A leaf margin or edge that is smooth and untoothed; without notches or indentations. F. arborescens, for example, has leaves with entire margins.

Epilobium canum – Formerly Zauschneria canum, Epilobium canum is another member of the Onagraceae Family with flowers bearing a close resemblance to those of its Fuchsia relatives. It's commonly called the "California Fuchsia" or also sometimes the "Hoary Fuchsia." See ➤ Faux Fuchsias; ➤ Faux Fuchsias.

(Illustration: Epilobium canum, or the California Fuchsia.)

Epiphyte – A plant that grows on another plant, such as a tree, or on other surface, such as on a rock, in a non-parasitical manner and gets its moisture and nutrients from rain and accumulated organic debris. A number of fuchsias, such as f. fulgens or F. apetala, can sometimes be found growing as epiphytes on trees or rocks as well as in the ground.

Eufuchsia – From the prefix eu, meaning good or well, plus Fuchsia. Former name and synonym of ➤ Section Fuchsia. The change of this section's name to Fuchsia was necessarily made to reflect the fact that the type species of the genus, F. triphylla, is in the section.

Euro-Fuchsia (1984-2022) – An former association of European fuchsia societies founded in 1984 when several national societies joined forces with the goal of encouraging cooperation and exchanging information on the culture and propagation of fuchsias across Europe. The Society was formally folded in July, 2022. There were fourteen member societies, with a combined membership of about ten thousand, and the association meet annually. In 2011, Euro-Fuchsia updated its constitution to include smaller societies and internet fuchsia groups, as well as individual members. While its attention remained focused on Europe, membership was open to non-European groups as well. In its final years, Euro-Fuchsia lost two long-standing members when the Swedish Fuchsia Society permanently folded and the British Fuchsia Society withdrew due to the difficulty in attending meetings, as well as the flagging interest of its own members. These losses helped contribute to the eventual demise of the organization.

➤ Euro-Fuchsia.

Evening Primrose Family – See ➤ Onagraceae.

Excorticata – Stripped of bark; having its bark hanging away. F. excorticata, the native tree fuchsia or kōtukutuku of New Zealand, was named for the very distinctive appearance of its bark but other fuchsia species also exhibit the characteriostic tendency of having papery strips of bark flaking or hanging away to greater or lesser degrees. On F. excorticata, the resulting mottled patterning on portions of its large tree-sized trunks and branches can also be especially attractive. This species is the largest of the Fuchsia genus, sometimes reaching to a height of fifteen meters (fifty feet), and is found throughout New Zealand to the Auckland Islands, almost three hundred miles south of South Island (465 kilometers). It is unusual among New Zealand trees for being deciduous in the southern parts of its native range. See F. excorticata (G.Forst., L.f. 1782) in ➤ Section Skinnera. Skinnera excorticata (J.R. Forst. & G. Forst. 1776) is a synonym of this species.

(Illustrations: 1. Fuchsia excorticata (Forster f.) L.f. Botanical Register, vol. 10: t. 857 (1824) [M. Hart]; 2. Base of the trunk of F. excorticata showing strips of bark hanging away.)

Exoniensis – From Exeter in England. F. exoniensis or F. x exoniensis (Paxton 1843) is an inlaid taxonomic synonym of a horticultural selection or likely garden hybrid of F. magellanica (Lam. 1788). Today the name should be rendered as F. magellanica 'Exoniensis' to indicate its origin in cultivation.

Experscandens – F experscandens or F. × experscandens (Allan 1927) is an unresolved name published by H. H. Allan in "Illustrations of Wild Hybrids in the New Zealand Flora," Genetica: A Journal of Genetics and Evolution, Volume 9, Issue 4-6, July 1927, p. 507. It seems to represent a possible natural hybrid with F. perscandens.

Fan – A fuchsia that have been trained into a flat, espaliered shape that resembles the classic outline of an opened folding fan. Training starts with the selection of shoot with four or five sets of leaves. The side shoots are directed into a fan shape, usually with the help of supports, and then stopped at six or seven sets of leaves, and the next set of side shoots at two or three sets of leaves. The topmost, however, is left to grow as a repeat of the original shoot. The process is continued until the desired size of the fan has been reached.

Fasciation – Also called cresting, fasciation is a relatively rare phenomenon of abnormal growth seen in fuchsias and other vascular plants. The growing tip, or apical meristem, of vascular plants is normally concentrated around a single point and normally produces cylindrical tissue. In fasciation, the growing tip becomes elongated perpendicularly to the direction of its growth, and produces flattened, ribbon-like, or elaborately contorted and waved tissue, hence the name cresting.

Fashion Fuchsia – Hollywood cerise or simply Hollywood, a bright pink or magenta color used in the fashion industry, is sometimes referred to as fashion fuchsia. Its hex triplet code for HTML programming is #F400A1. See also ➤ Color Fuchsia.

Faux Fuchsias – A number of plants are often inaccurately called "fuchsias," of one sort or another, because their flowers are thought to resemble the fuchsia's characteristic ones. Australia, for some reason perhaps due to a pining in its harsher climate for those English gardens left behind, seems especially prone to faux fuchsias. Among the wannabes are plants such as the Australian Fuchsia (Correa reflexa), the Tree Fuchsia (Halleria placida) and the Cape Fuchsia (Phygelius capensis and P. aequalis, and their crosses, P. x rectus). The only one that might remotely claim the title, though, is the California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum, formerly Zauschneria), a species also in the Evening Primrose Family (Onagraceae) and closely related to the real Fuchsia. See ➤ Faux Fuchsias webpage.

(Ilustration: Epilobium canum, or the California Fuchsia.)

Ferreyra Huerta, Ramón (1910-2005) – Peruvian botanist, environmentalist, plant collector, and professor at the National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru where he also served as director of its Museum of Natural History from 1961-1981. Ferreyra received his doctoral degree at the University in 1945 as a student of ➤ Augusto (August) Weberbauer. Additionally, he was the founder of the San Marcos Herbarium in 1948, founding member of the Flora Neotropica project in 1964, and even served as the botanical assessor for the La Molina Experimental Agricultural Station. Besides a Fuchsia, there are fifty-one other species and two genera named in his honor. Along with his wife, fellow botanist Emma Cerrate, he made many collections of Peruvian and Andean plants in the field for the San Marcos Herbarium and published numerous new species of his own. See F. ferreyrae in ➤ Section Fuchsia. [C. Arana, 2006, "La memoria del doctor Ramón Ferreyra (1910-2005)", Revista Peruana de Biología 12(2): 179; Anon, 2004, "Homenaje: Dr Ramón Ferreyra Huerta", Revista Peruana de Biología 11(2):123.]

Ferreyrae – Named in honor of Ramón Ferreyra (1910-2005). The new species as described was collected in 1978 by Paul Berry and James Aronson on the road to Concepción in the Janín Department of Satipo Province in Peru. See ➤ Ferreyra; F. ferreyrae (Berry 1982) in ➤ Section Fuchsia. No synonyms of this species are recorded.

Feuillée, Louis (1660-1732) – Another Minim monk—and student of Charles Plumier—Feuillée was an astronomer and cartographer sent by the French government on an exploratory journey through Chile, Argentina and Peru from 1707-1711. Evidently, this was the trip that Charles Plumier was himself originally to have undertaken before he died. In his Journal des observations physiques, mathématiques, et botaniques (Paris, 1714), Feuillée recorded and illustrated a Chilean plant he called Thilco. It would later be published as F. magellanica by Lamarck in 1788. Besides Thilco, Feuillée is noted for his observation of the Humboldt Current a century before Humboldt, the reverse order of the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere, and first mention of the tasty Chilean strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis, which is now one of the two parents of our modern garden hybrids. Oh, and Feuillée's Monster, apparently a fantastic mutant lamb he observed while in Buenos Aires and later illustrated from memory. See also ➤ thilco.

Field Techniques – Methods used in the collection and preparation of botanical specimens while in the field or on plant-hunting expeditions. For an excellent set of recommendations for high-quality results, see this handbook from the ➤ Missouri Botanical Garden.

Fierce Fuchsia – A poem by Erlin Aprilia Efendi which begins, "Out there the pink comes up, Undeniable its heart is numb, The real comes in the end, The first is just for heaven; Inside here the purple appears, It shows its calyx then consoles quite clear…" The poet seems otherwise unknown in English. It is possible that the work represents a single submission of otherwise unpublished material to the Poem Hunter website. It might also represent an unique translation from another language. See ➤ Fierce Fuchsia.

Filament – The stalk portion of the stamen. The pollen-producing sac, the anther, is located at its end. In fuchsias, the protruding and variously colored filaments often add significantly to the decorative effect of the flowers.

Filipes – Having thread-like stalks. F. filipes (Rusby 1927) is a synonym of F. sanctae-rosae (Kuntze 1898) in ➤ Section Fuchsia.

Final Pinch or Stop – The last removal of a fuchsia's growing tips before the plant is left to flower. Flowering can usually occur anywhere from eight to twelve weeks after the final stop depending on the cultivar. The timing of the last stop is especially important when preparing the floral display of a particular cultivar to be at its peak for a flower show.

Firth, Captain – The mysterious seaman who is often often credited with bringing the first fuchsia cultivated in English gardens into that country sometime during the 1780's, where it was supposedly noticed by a commercial nurseryman passing his mother's windowsill. Or simply on an anonymous wife's or widow's windowsill in Wapping, in some versions, leaving Captain Firth out of the picture altogether.

It's been suggested that the colorful story was an invention to cover the questionable liberation of cuttings from the royal botanical collection at Kew. That explanation is very unlikely, however (see ➤ Lee). The Tale of the Windowsill first surfaces well after the brief citation of Firth in the Hortus Kewensis and it becomes embroidered with increasing detail and sentiment, even to the point of melodrama, as time goes on. Even Charles Dickens has a go at the story in his journal, Household Words, published from 1850-1859.

A fuchsia is indeed listed as being grown at Kew in the 1789 catalogue, the Hortus Kewensis, and Captain Firth is stated as its source. Called Fuchsia coccinea, the new acquisition is obviously confused with F. magellanica (Lamarck 1788), a species with a similar flower, since reference is made to Feuillée's thilco (see also) and it's noted, "Native of Chili. Introd. 1788, Captain Firth." A dried specimen taken from the original plant at the time of its arrival at Kew, however, does confirm it as today's F. coccinea.

Nonetheless, a real amount of mystery remains behind the plant at Kew. The calyx of F. magellanica is certainly often scarlet and there's much public confusion at this early period between the two names, if not the two species. F. magellanica is also very variable across its native range, which can additionally blur identification. In early references, it's quite impossible to tell which species is really which. F. coccinea may have been described first in England but the question remains, "When did the much more widely grown and hardy F. magellanica enter English gardens?"

To make matters just slightly more confusing, neither was even the first fuchsia recorded as being grown in England. About 1730, ➤ Phillip Miller, the head gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden, received seeds shipped from "Carthagena in New Spain" from fellow Scotsman and botanist ➤ William Houstoun. That fuchsia, arguably identified as F. triphylla, was apparently successfully grown there for a number of years before it disappeared from cultivation. Since Miller was head gardener at Chelsea from 1722 to 1771, it's unclear at what date that first fuchsia was lost. Most importantly, however, Houston's fuchsia was apparently never cultivated except at Chelsea by Miller before it was lost. It was either F. coccinea or F. magellanica that would first enter general English horticulture. But which one, though?

Considering the extensive British contacts with Chile over the two hundred years previous to 1789, an earlier arrival of the species from the Magellanic region into English gardens, than the one from Brazil, is not illogical. Even a much earlier arrival. F. magellanica had already been collected by ➤ George Handisyd in 1690 and had already appeared—at the very least—as a dried specimen in Sir Hans Sloan's herbarium.

It's also winter hardy enough to have thrived outdoors in many places in the British Isles, unnoticed and unrecorded by the botanical establishment in London, for many decades before it suddenly burst onto the fashionable garden scene in the 1790's or later. It was much hardier than the competition, in fact, in spite of contemporary misconceptions of F. magellanica as a tender plant, an indication again of its confusion with F. coccinea. While the real F. coccinea was mostly confined to overwintering in hothouses with stoves, it's certainly F. magellanica and its hybrids, perhaps even with F. coccinea, that were to become so widely naturalized in favorable regions all over the British Isles today.

Oddly for a sailor with the rank of Captain, naval or otherwise, no other documentary evidence to Captain Firth's identity has ever turned up. Not even the hint of a christian name. Whatever the truth, the myth or perhaps half-memory of a sea captain logically points to the arrival of fuchsias into English gardens via the extensive British maritime network of the age, stretching not just to South America but literally around the globe.

Officers of British vessels, both royal and merchant, were explicitly expected to be on the look-out for anything that might prove useful or interesting to Britain and return home with samples or reports. Kew was, of course, the frequent recipient of many botanical novelties. As was also the Chelsea Physic Garden. And sailors did often return from their long journeys with exotic gifts and souvenirs for their friends and family.

See also ➤ Handisyd; ➤ Miller; ➤ Sloane.

(Illustrations: 1. Suggested portrait of the mysterious Captain Firth; 2. Rigobert Bonne & Guillaume Raynal, Carte du Chili depuis le sud du Pérou jusqu'au Cap Horn avec partie des regions qui en sont à l'est, Atlas de Toutes les Parties Connues du Globe Terrestre, 1780; 3. Landscape with Cottage, Thomas Gainsborough, ca. 1780; 4. a British frigate, W.F. Mitchell, 1780.)

Fischer, Paul – Swiss photographer who aided ➤ J. Francis Macbride in his ten-year project to photograph type specimens in most major European herbaria. F. fischerii (Macbride 1941) is now synonymous with F. mathewsii (Macbride 1940). See F. mathewsii in ➤ Section Fuchsia.

Fischerii – Named in honor of Paul Fischer. F. fischerii (Macbride 1941) is a synonym of F. mathewsii (Macbride 1940). See ➤ Fischer; ➤ Mathews; and F. mathewsii in ➤ Section Fuchsia.

Flexuous – Winding from side to side; sinuous.

Flor de arete – Earring flower (Spanish); ➤ common name for the fuchsia in some parts of Latin America.

Flor de nácar – Nacre or mother-of-pearl flower (Spanish); common name sometimes incorrectly used for the fuchsia in some parts of Latin America. As the descriptive name suggests, Flor de nácar is more properly applied to Hoya carnosa, or the wax plant.

Floriferous – Flowering freely; bearing many flowers.

Flower Bud – The developing and unopened blossom. In fuchsias, the differing shapes and colors of flower buds just before they open are a defining characteristic of many cultivars and often very useful in determining the identity of unknown plants.

(Illustration: Fuchsia 'Zulu King'.)

Foliar Feeding – Sprays or mists containing mild solutions of nutrients are often applied topically to be absorbed directly through the plant's leaves rather than through its roots. Fuchsias respond well to foliar feeding but care should be taken to make sure that the solution used is not so strong as possibly to burn delicate leaves and shoots.
 
Fontinalis – From fountains or springs. See F. fontinalis (J.F.Macbr. 1940) in ➤ Section Fuchsia. No synonyms are recorded for this species.

Form or Forma – (Plural: forms or formae) In taxonomy, a form is an infraspecific category below a variety (see also), indicating a noticeable but minor deviation. The designation is often considered unnecessary by botanists as there can be almost countless forms based on very minor genetic differences.

Forster, John Reinhold (1729-1798) and George Forster (1754-1794) – [German: Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster.] On Captain James Cook's second voyage (1772-75), the German-Scottish naturalists, John Reinhold Forster and his son, George, were chosen to replace Joseph Banks (see also) when he withdrew from the expedition. The Forsters collected specimens of F. excorticata at Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand, either during November 1773 or October-November 1774, one of the two periods when they were able to go ashore to botanize there. They dedicated their published description to John Forster's friend, the Rev. Richard Skinner, as Skinnera excorticata in 1776 (see also ➤ Skinnera). The Forsters were not aware, or perhaps didn't recognize, that the same plant had already been discovered by Banks and Daniel Solander (see also) on the first Cook voyage (1768-1771). While Agapanthus calciflorous had been provisionally penciled in on the back of the Banks & Solander manuscript drawing of their earlier collection, that name was never validly published. The Foster's Skinnera excorticata was moved to Fuchsia in 1781 by Carl Linnaeus the Younger when he recognized its connection with the genus. See also ➤ Section Skinnera.

(Illustration: Poe-Bird, New Zealand. James Cook, A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World, 1777. This plate shows the poe-bird perched on a flowering branch of Skinnera excorticata (now Fuchsia excorticata) and is one of five botanical illustrations in the book taken from the Forsters. These plates were not attributed to the Forsters due to a dispute with Cook and the Admiralty over the joint authorship of the expedition's journal.)

Fosbergii – Fuchsia fosbergii was named in honor of the distinguished American botanist, F. Raymond Fosberg (1908-1993). The species is now a synonym of F. harlingii (Munz 1972) in ➤ Section Fuchsia.

Fosberg, F. (Francis) Raymond – F. (Francis) Raymond Fosberg (1908-1993), also known as Ray Fosberg, received a B.A. in Botany at Pomona College in 1930 and then worked as a plant researcher at the Los Angeles County Museum. He specialized in plants from the islands on the coast of California, as well as from the desert Southwest. Interested in island ecosystems, he moved to the University of Hawaii in 1932 where he received an invitation to join the Mangarevan Expedition, led by the malacologist Charles Montague Cooke, Jr. That expedition visited twenty-five high islands and thirty-one coral islands, and returned to Hawaii with some 15,000 plant specimens. Fosberg received an M.S. in Botany from the University of Hawaii in 1937 and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1939. Later he worked at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) where he was sent to Colombia to identify stands of Cinchona for quinine production as part of the American war effort. After World War II, he was part of a survey of economic resources in the Micronesian Islands. Starting in 1951, Fosberg spent the next fifteen years at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) mapping the military geology of islands in the Pacific. In 1966, he joined the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in the tropical biology branch of the Ecology Program. He transferred to the Department of Botany as a curator in 1968 and was appointed Senior Botanist in 1976. Over a span of sixty-two years, Fosberg comprehensively and meticulously documented his many activities in one hundred twenty-nine field books (1931-1993) and, even as curator emeritus, remained and active and vigorous collector right up until his death in 1993. While on the botanizing trip to South America on the look-out or Cinchona trees for the USDA in 1945, Fosberg collected a fuchsia near Loja in Ecuador. The specimen would remain in the herbarium at the Smithsonian Institution until it was described as a new species in his honor by Munz in 1972. Fuchsia fosbergii is now a synonym of F. harlingii (Munz 1972) in ➤ Section Fuchsia but a number of other plants named in his honor remain valid.

(Illustration: 1. Detail of F. Raymond Fosberg in the field. Kjell Bloch Sandved, Smithsonian Archives, 92-1712; 2. Detail of an entry in one of Fosberg's notebooks. 3. Isotype of F. fosbergii, now a synonym of F. harlingii, preserved at the Smithsonian's National Herbarium.)

Fossil-Taxon – According to the Vienna Code (McNeill, Barrie & Burdet 2006), any plant taxon whose type is a fossil is referred to as a fossil-taxon. Fossil-taxa can be a particular part of a plant preserved in a particular way, as defined in the diagnosis. Otherwise, the names of fossil-taxa follow the same regulations as does the nomenclature of living plants. As with living plants, fossil names are fixed to a type specimen. Competing names are accepted according to the chronological priority of first publication, as well. Until recently, there were no fossil-taxa of Fuchsia. That changed with the discovery a fossil flower and an associated anther clump preserved in early Miocene limestone from New Zealand. This new fossil-taxon was published as Fuchsia antiqua in October 2013. ➤ Antiqua.

Fuchs, Leonhart (1501-1566) – Fuchs was the very eminent German physician and professor after whom the genus Fuchsia was baptized by Charles Plumier. He had occupied the chair of medicine at the University of Tübingen and authored the seminal De Historia Stirpium in 1542. Along with Otto Brunfels (1489–1534) and Hieronymus Bock (1498–1554), also called Hieronymus Tragus, he is considered one of the three fathers of botany. Euphony aside, one wishes that more could be said about Fuchs regarding the plant named in his honor but the reality is that the connection is more or less arbitrary. It's interesting to speculate, however, just how aware he was of the amazing botanical riches from the New World rapidly approaching on the western horizon. Among other novelties, he did recognize Zea mays in his herbal but sadly didn't get his information completely in order; as Turkish Corn, he placed it as a native of conventionally exotic Turkey rather than the Americas. Then again, the newly introduced Turkey Fowl also suffered from the same contemporary misconception of the East, as the source of all things mysterious and exotic, or it might have been called the Mexico Fowl instead.

Fuchsia (m.) – In French, le fuchsia is a masculine noun. At the beginning of the 19th century, la fuchsia (f.) was common in French but this later changed, possibly to reflect that the genus was named to honor Leonhart Fuchs and Fuchsia might be considered a masculine noun of the first declension in botanical Latin. Other plants, such as le begonia, are similarly constructed. In some early publications, the linguistically modified word Fuchsie may be found in sections of French text in opposition to the scientific name Fuchsia used in the Latin descriptions.

Fuchsia Sw. – See Fuchsia involucrata Sw.

The Fuchsia (Poem) - The Fuchsia is a poem by American poet Matty Reynolds (b. 1973) which begins, "I want to buy you, A fuchsia to hang, My heart from…" ➤ The Fuchsia.

The Fuchsia Band (Music group) – An Irish folk music group from Cork, Ireland. The Fuchsia Band's four members are Brian McGillicuddy, Máirtin de Cógáin, Eoin Verling and Michael Hefferman and their energetic performances feature traditional Irish music, story, song and dance. See ➤ band website.

(Illustration: Poster advertising The Fuchsia Band.)

Fuchsia (British band) – A short-lived British progressive folk band formed by Tony Durant in 1970 that released one eponymous album in 1971 before disappearing that same year. Durant soon augmented his original trio to six members. The group's album has since developed a cult following. In 2013, Durant released an album named From Psychedelia to a Distant Place under the name Fuchsia II. The original band's name was taken from Fuchsia Groan (see also).

Fuchsia Begonia – Begonia fuchsioides. See ➤ Faux Fuchsias entry; also ➤ Faux Fuchsias page.

Fuchsia Bush, Fuchsia Emu Bush – Common name for the Australian native, Eremophila maculata, in its home country. It's also occasionally called "Wild Fuchsia" in Austrailia. See ➤ Faux Fuchsias entry; also ➤ Faux Fuchsias page.

Fuchsia City (Video game) – Japanese セキチクシティ or Sekichiku City. A location within the popular video game series, Pokémon, published by Nintendo. Fuchsia City refers to the color magenta and not to the plants.

Fuchsia Clothing (Fashion) – Fuchsia Clothing is an American fashion company and design business started in 2004 by Veronica Scott and Lawren Pope as a small fashion retail effort selling purses and accessories to classmates while they were still attending high school in Houston, Texas. Using money raised from these sales to classmates, Scott and Pope soon expanded an internet site into custom couture design that attracted the attention of well-off local socialites and held a runway show that also attracted the attention of TV news. Now based in San Diego, California, where the partners moved to attend college after graduation in 2005, the company specializes in women's fashions, handbags and accessories and is focused mainly on internet sales through its current website, ➤ Fuchsia Clothing.

Fuchsia Dell – Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Originally called the Golden Gate Fuchsia Grove, the Fuchsia Dell was established in 1940 with fuchsias that might have been recycled from those used extensively at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, perhaps at the urging of Alice Eastwood (see also). Most of the plantings in the park suffered severely after the accidental introduction of the Fuchsia Gall Mite (see also) into the San Francisco area in 1981. Despite heroic efforts by park staff at keeping the mite at bay, the Fuchsia Dell was dealt another, near fatal blow by destructive storms in 1995. The Dell's sign was subsequently removed. The next year, however, Peter Baye, a botanist at the Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park, and members of the local American Fuchsia Society were instrumental in reestablishing the Fuchsia Dell with plantings from the botanical garden. These new plantings included many mite-resistant species along with mite-resistant hybrids being developed by Baye. See visit to the ➤ Strybing Arboretum and the Fuchsia Dell.

Fuchsia Dunlop (Personal name) – See ➤ Fuchsia (Personal Names).

Fuchsia (Film) – Title of a 2009 Filipino drama-comedy film. Fuchsia was directed by Joel Lamangan and stars Eddie Garcia, Robert Arevalo and the popular Filipino-American actress, Gloria Romero, as Mameng, an older but still hip woman who adores the color fuchsia and must deal with her aging relatives.

A Fuchsia Elephant (Short Film) – Title of a still-unreleased comedic short film (running time 10 min.) from 2009, written, directed and starring Dianna Agron. Argon is best known for her portrayal of the high school cheerleader, Quinn Fabray, from 2009-2014 on the popular FOX television series Glee. As Charlotte Hill, she makes the decision just before her eighteenth birthday not follow in the footsteps of an alcoholic mother. Enlisting the help of Michael (Dave Franco, producer of the film and younger brother of James Franco) and her other friends, Charlotte recreates the fun-filled eighth birthday party she never had, complete with pirates, gypsies and a bright fuchsia-colored elephant.


uchsia Fairy – A drawing done by the English illustrator, Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973), who was especially popular for her many fantasy illustrations, published in numerous books, depicting English garden and wildflowers as fairies. In 1934, the Fuchsia Fairy illustrated the letter F in Flower Fairy Alphabet. In the original publication, each letter is accompanied by a short poem. Today, the Fuchsia Fairy (along with most other Barker illustrations) is found reproduced on innumerable articles of merchandise, from plastic hanging ornaments to porcelain plates and everything conceivable monetizable thing in between. There are a number of more recent imitations of Flower Fairies but almost all lack the charm and immediacy of Barker's work and generally tend to sexualize the subject.

The Song of the Fuchsia Fairy

Fuchsia is a dancer
Dancing on her toes
Clad in red and purple
By a cottage wall;
Sometimes in a greenhouse,
In frilly white and rose,
Dressed in her best for the fairies' evening ball!

Fuchsia Flash – Quarterly newsletter of the ➤ Northwest Fuchsia Society (USA).

Fuchsia Gall Mite – Aculops fuchsiae. First reported in San Francisco in 1981, the fuchsia gall mite is a minute pest that seems to have been accidentally introduced into the Bay Area from its native Brazil about 1980. Easily carried along by hummingbirds and bees, it has radiated from San Francisco. Recently, it has also made an unfortunate appearance in Europe, first among the fuchsias of Brittany and the Loire Valley in 2003, then the Channel Islands in 2006, and now the United Kingdom about 2007. The Fuchsia Gall Mite causes severe contortions and malformations to appear at the ends of the branches of susceptible plants. That unattractive condition lead to a severe decline in fuchsias on the West Coast of the United States as many grand shrubs were simply ripped out. The mites won't easily survive temperatures under 40°F (5°C), though, and there are fortunately some simple treatments and cultivation techniques to help keep the galling under control on susceptible plants. There are now also an increasingly diverse number of attractive hybrids, incorporating resistant or immune species, available from nurseries as well.

(Illustration: 1, Fuchsia gall mite damage on 'Swingtime'; 2. 'Del Campo,' a gall mite resistant cultivar developed by Peter Baye at the Strybing Arboretum.)

Fuchsia Groan – Fuchsia Groan is the name of a fictional character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan (1946) and Gormenghast (1950). She is the daughter of Sepulchrave, the 76th Earl of Groan. The character was played by Scottish actress Neve McIntosh (b. 1972) in a BBC film adaptation in 2000. Fuchsia Groan is also the subject of song by the rock band, The Cure, called The Drowning Man.

Fuchsia Hedges in Connacht (Poem) – A poem by the Irish poet, Padraic Colum (1881-1972), which begins, "I think some saint of Eirinn wandering far, found you and brought you here Demoiselles! For so I greet you in this alien air…" As well as a poet, Colum was a celebrated novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore and is considered one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival. ➤ Fuchsia Hedges in Connacht.

Fuchsia in all the Languages of the World – Since Linnaeus introduced the binomial system of plant classification, the correct scientific name of the genus is always Fuchsia. This denomination from botanical Latin also often serves as a common name. However, many languages have quite different orthographic and linguistic rules than are found in English and must necessarily alter the spelling or pronunciation outside of scientific use. In languages that don't use the Latin alphabet, there is additionally the often awkward or difficult attempt at a phonetic transliteration. However, not all sounds found in Latin are to be found in all languages and, when no exactly corresponding letters are available, the equivalence must be shifted slightly or significantly. Or perhaps even an evocative new name created. Chinese is a good example. Because that language's written characters are based on logograms and not a phonetic alphabet, the colorful new name of the "Hanging Lantern Flower" has come into being among Chinese speakers and readers.

• 

• Arabic - ضارب الى الحمرة
• Armenian - գոյական փուքսենի
• Azerbaijani - Küpəçiçəyi
• Basque - Fuksia
• Belarusian - Фуксія (Fuksiya)
• Bosnian – Fuksija
• Bulgarian - Обичка (Obychka)
• Breton - Fuchia; also kleierigoù-ruz or kloc'higoù-ruz
• Catalan – Fúcsia
• Chinese - 吊灯花: Diàodēnghuā or Hanging Lantern Flower;
  倒挂金钟: Zhonghai Tang or Hanging Fuchsia Begonia Lantern;
  晚樱科植物: Wǎnyīnɡkēzhíwù or Late Cherry Plants.
  
• Croatian – Fuksija
• Czech – Fuchsie
• Danish – Fuchsia
• Esperanto - Fuksio
• Estonian – Fuksia
• Finnish - Fuksia; also Verenpisarat
• Galician – Fúcsia
• Georgian - ფუქსია (Puqsia)
• German – Fuchsie
• Greek - Φουξία (Phoysia)
• Hebrew - פוקסיה (Foksih)
• Hawaiian - Kulapepeiao
• Hindi – फ़ूशिया (Phūhaṛa)
• Hungarian – Fukszia
• Icelandic – Fuchsia
• Ido - Fuxio
• Irish - Fiúsie; Deora Dé (God’s Tears)
• Italian - Fucsia
• Japanese –フクシア( Fukushia)
• Khmer - Fuchsia
• Korean - 푸크시아 (Pukeusiah)
• Latin - Fuchsia
• Latvian – Fuksija
• Limburgian - Foksia
• ithuanian – Fuksija
• Macedonian – Обичка (Obička)
• Malayalam - ഫ്യൂഷിയ
• Maori - Kōtukutuku
• Maltese - Fuxa
• Manx - Thammag vineenagh, jeiryn yee
• Marathi - खाली लोंबणार्या सुंदर फुलांचे झाड
• Mongolian - Fuchsia
• Nepali - फुच्सिया
• Norwegain - Fuksia; also Tårer
• Persian - گل گوشواره
• Philipino - Pusiya
• Polish – Fuksja; also ułanka
• Portuguese – Fúcsia; also brinco-de-princessa, bochechudo, mimo
• Priulian - Fucsia
• Quechua (Inca) - Chiyu
• Romanian – Fucsie, cerceluş
• Russian – Фуксия (Fuksiya)
• Serbian – Фуксија (Fuksija)
• Sesotho - Monjet
• Slovak – Fuchsie
• Slovenian - Fuksija
• Spanish – Fucsia; also pendientes de la reina, chilco, aljaba
• Swedish – Fuchsia; also fuchsiasläktet
• Tajik - Гуловез
• Thai - โคมญี่ปุ่น
• Tibetan - མངར་དྲིལ།
• Turkish - Küpe çiçeği or Küpeçiçeği
• Ukranian - Фуксія (Fuksiya)
• Urdu - فشیا
• Uzbek - Fuşya
• Vietnamese - Cây khoa vản anh
• Welsh - Ffiwsia; also dropys cochion
• Yiddish – פוטשסיאַ
• Zulu - Uhlobo lwembali

(Illustration: Brueghel's Tower of Babel, 1563.)

Fuchsia involucrata Sw. – A synonym of Schradera involucrata (Sw.) K.Schum (Fl. Bras. 6(6): 295 1889), belonging to a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae first described by Martin Vahl in 1797. The genus has a wide distribution from tropical America to the Malay Archipelago. Olof Peter Swartz (1760–1818) was a Swedish botanist best known for his taxonomic work and studies of pteridophytes.

The Fuchsia is Now (Book) – Illustrated children's book by J. Otto Seibold published in 2006. The simple story features Fuchsia who receives a pink hat, which makes her look somewhat like the flower, as a birthday surprise from her small friends. The hat contains a fairy who grants her wishes when she repeats the title phrase, "The fuchsia is now". The book is intended for very young children between the ages of three and five. Seibold is also the primary illustrator and co-author of several other children's books, such as Olive, My Love.

➤ The Fuchsia is Now.

Fuchsia Lore – Objects, or a collection of objects, with fuchsias as the theme. Fuchsia Lore can encompass almost anything from porcelain, glass, and quilts to paintings, botanical illustrations and postage stamps as long as fuchsias are illustrated on the object in some way; Also sometimes termed Fuchsiana. (Illustration: Detail of the Fuchsia pattern on a 12" vase (No. 903) from Roseville Pottery in 1939.)

Fuchsia (Misspellings) – Because of the elided pronunciation of fuchsia in English, misspellings are common. In fact, it's probably one of the most misspelled words in the English language. Beside the commonly seen fuschia, some other notable miscreants include fushia, fuchia, fuchuia, fuscia, fucsia, fiusha, fusha, fucha, fewsha, fcusia and quite a few more.

Fuchsia OS – Code name for a new computer operating system apparently being developed by internet search giant, Google (as of August 2016). The OS is being said to run on any device. If the troubled mess of the Android operating systems for mobile devices is any indication of Google’s success, poor fuchsia with be in for a rough start in a hackers’ garden and playground. Perhaps bindweed might have been a better codename. If you do use “fuchsia” as a search term on Google’s core business, be aware that Bing actually returns better and more focused results. Google puts too much weight into the overall web of links, to the detriment of the actual quality of the content, and it shows in the misplaced rankings of popular but generic or superficial sites. Lilian Vernon may be well-linked, but the company is hardly an expert on anything, let alone fuchsias.

Fuchsia (Personal Names) – Due to the popularity of the flower–and the word's association with the vibrant pink-purple color magenta–Fuchsia has occasionally been adopted as an especially female forename both in fiction and in reality. For example, Fuchsia Groan appears as the name of a fictional character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan (1946) and Gormenghast (1950). A prominent example from real life is Fuchsia Dunlop, an English writer and chef specializing in Chinese cuisine. In another instance, the British musician, Sting (Gordan Summer, b. 1951), and his first wife, the actress Frances Tornelty (b. 1948) named their second child "Fuchsia Catherine" in 1982.

Fuchsia Research International – A organization based in the United Kingdom that was dedicated to the study and research of fuchsia species. FRI published the Journal of Fuchsia Research and maintained the National Collection of Fuchsia Species at Margham Park. It was dissolved in 2008 and its plant collection transferred to the Arboretum de Chèvreloup at Versailles for preservation.

Fuchsia Rust – Pucciniastrum epilobii. Fuchsia rust is the most serious disease that might affect fuchsias. It alternates its cycle between the willowherb or fireweed, (Epilobium angustifolium but now Chameron angustifolium), a close relation to the fuchsia, and the fir tree (Abies). Spores can travel distances on the wind and outbreaks generally occur late in the season. Rust is difficult to control once it's established so it's generally recommended to regularly monitor plants for the characteristic orange pustules and pick off infected leaves, if in rust prone areas with firs and fireweed, and then spray with an appropriate fungicide, such as Bayleton's. The disease will easily carry into the next year if plants are not properly treated before winter.

Fuchsia Singers (Music group) – An a cappella choir of five singers based in London. An album of their music, The Voice Collection, was released on 2013. ➤ Fuchsia Singers.

Fuchsia (Sinfest) – A character in the webcomic, ➤ Sinfest, started by American artist Tatsya Ishida. Fuchsia is described as "Previously a stereotypical succubus. [She] fell in love with the kind-hearted Criminy and quit her job to pursue a normal life. Enjoys painting but suffers flashbacks about her previous employment."

Fuchsia Societies – See ➤ Fuchsia Societies webpage for a full list.

Fuchsia Swing Song (Album) – Debut album by the American saxophonist, Sam Rivers (1923-2011). It was first released on the Blue Note label in 1964, reissued on CD in 1995, and again in 2003 as part of the limited-edition Connoisseur Series to include four bonus tracks of alternate takes. The orginal six track listings are 1. "Fuchsia Swing Song" (6:03); 2. "Downstairs Blues Upstairs" (5:33); 3. "Cyclic Episode" (6:57); 4. "Luminous Monolith" (6:31); 5. "Beatrice" (6:13); and 6. "Ellipsis" (7:43).

Fuchsiaceae – Invalid plant family. The genus Fuchsia belongs to the Onagraceae, or Evening Primrose Family. Fuchsiaceae was created by the Swedish botanist and man of letters, Nils Lilja (1808-1870), in the substantially reworked second edition of his Skånes flora (Flora of Scania, 1838) released in 1870. The colorful Lilja also had a penchant for creating new genera out of old fuchsias. See ➤ Lilja.

Fuchsiaeflora – See ➤ Fuchsiiflora.

Fuchsian Group – Nothing to do with fuchsias at all. It's simply a geometry term for any discrete group of isometries of the hyperbolic plane.

Fuchsiana – 1. Things related to fuchsias; 2. ➤ Fuchsia lore; 3. The name of the bimonthly publication of the Nederlandse Kring van Fuchsiavrienden.

Fuchsiarama – This amusingly named fuchsia nursery was once located in Fort Bragg, California, on the scenic California Highway 1. It specialized in hardy and heat-resistant cultivars suited to the California climate, especially the hot, dry areas away from the coast. The nursery was suddenly closed in 2010.

Fuchsias in the City – Former name of The Fuchsietum when it was based in Manhattan from 2010-2019.

Fuchsie (f.), Fuchsien (pl.) – German for fuchsia.

Fuchsii – Named in honor of Fuchs, usually meaning ➤ Leonart Fuchs. Plants with this species designation, such as the bromeliad, Tillandsia fuchsii, or the common spotted lily, Dactylorhiza fuchsii, have nothing to do with the genus Fuchsia. Both epithets are simply derived from the same German surname.

Fuchsiiflora – Flowered like a fuchsia; fuchsia flowered. Not applied to Fuchsia but a few other genera contain members that are described as fuchsia-flowered. The most notable is perhaps Passiflora fuchsiiflora (Hemsley 1898). As the accompanying botanical illustration attests, its long-tubed orange-scarlet flowers do indeed bear a superficially uncanny resemblance to those of a number of Fuchsia species. Also sometimes rendered fuchsiaeflora

(Illustration: Passiflora fuchsiiflora. Matilda Smith (1854–1926), Hooker’s Icones Plantarum, 1898, vol. 26, table 2553).

Fuchsiifolia – Having leaves resembling those of the genus Fuchsia. A notable example is Cuphea fuchsiifolia (A.St.-Hil. 1833), a plant native to Brazil in the Lythraceae or Loosestrife Family.

Fuchsine – (Often rendered as fuchsin.) Trade name for a synthetic analine dye, rosaniline hydrochloride, producing a deep red or magenta color. Starting in the early 1880s, the colors it produced were also often termed "fuchsia-red" or just "fuchsia." The name was coined by the French manufacturer Renard Frères et Franc in 1859. A marketing ploy, the firm's choice was statedly influenced by the fact that fuchsias were simply a very popular and fashionable garden plant—ignoring the inconvenience of their actual color—and that Fuchs translates into French as Renard (Fox). Interestingly, the original association of the chemical name is to the bright pink of the rose. Magenta, the synonymous contemporary trade name for the same dye in England, was a similar ploy to cash in on the famous Battle of Magenta in Italy in 1859 during which Napolean III achieved a renowned military victory over the Austrians. See Magenta; ➤ The Color Fuchsia.

(Illustration: Basic fuchsine in an aqueous solution. ➤ Wikipedia.)

Fuchsioides – Resembling a fuchsia. A number of genera contain species which were described as resembling the fuchsia. The most common and widely recognized is perhaps Begonia fuchsioides (Hooker 1847). Others include a member of the Solanaceae or Nightshade Family, Lochroma fuchsioides (Bonpland, Miers 1848), and the more-recent Palicourea fuchsioides (C.M. Taylor 1999), a member of the Rubiaceae, or Coffee Family.

Fuchsiology– The science and study of fuchsias. A fuchsiologist is one who studies fuchsias.

Fuchsior – Fuchsias (pl.) in Swedish.

Fucsia – No, spellings such as this are not always a mistake outside of English. Fuchsia is commonly written this way in Spanish (or a number of other languages) because of its standardized orthography. In scientific publications and references the correct spelling of the genus still applies, however. In Spanish, additionally, it's la fucsia (f.) but often el [color] fucsia (m.) might be used to indicate the color. See also Fuchsia in all the Languages of the World, Misspellings.

Fucsia – A Spanish-language women's fashion magazine based in Bogotá, Colombia. Owned by Publicaciones Semana S.A., the first issue was published in March, 2008.

Fulgens – Brilliant; shiny or shining; glowing. F. fulgens, often called the “brilliant fuchsia” in older references, is native to Mexico where it was first collected around 1790 by the Mexican botanists, José Mariano Mociño (1757-1820) and Martín de Sessé y Lacasta (1751-1808), during the course of the ambitious botanizing campaign known as the Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain (see also). This seminal expedition had been organized and directed by Sessé in various phases from about 1787-1803 and was undertaken with the financial support of the royal government in Madrid. At the end of the Expedition, the botanists journeyed to Spain to get support for the publication of the Expedition's work.

This quest was unsuccessful, however, and the invaluable collections, botanical illustrations and papers would become ignored and scattered due to war and political upheavals and remain published until posthumous attempts in Mexico in the 1880s. Mociño was forced to flee Spain in 1812 but managed to take some part of the work, on which he continued to labor after Sessé's death in 1808, into exile with him in France. In Montpellier, the physically declining Mociño met the Swiss botanist, Augustin-Pyrame de Candolle of Geneva, who utilized Mociño's notes and illustrations to describe and publish a number of new plants, including F. fulgens in 1828, in his Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis.

Living material of F. fulgens, which often grows natively as an epiphyte or among rocks in moist areas, eventually made its way to Europe and the United States by about 1837. Plants or seeds were apparently collected by the French physician and botanist, Louis-Auguste Deschamps de Pas of Saint-Omer, on a trip to Mexico in about 1835-1836. In England, F. fulgens was acquired by the Lee Nursery of Hammersmith and rapidly distributed throughout the country from there. Europe saw a similar quick dispersal of Deschamps’ material.

The easily grown species instantly became fashionable in greenhouses and with florists, as evidenced by the many references and illustrations in widely disseminated horticultural publications of the period. It was almost immediately crossed with other fuchsias. There are a number of early hybrids, possibly with F. splendens, that are still often confusingly given as variations of the natural species. This is not surprising. Many early breeders used “var.” with abandon and cultivar names that mimicked actual species were common. The so-called “F. fulgens var. gesneriana” is only one such example. It's been speculated that many other garden hybrids are "probably of hybrid derivation from forms of F. magellanica and F. fulgens" (Bailey, Hortus, 264. 1930). As there are very few records of the actual parentage of most all early hybrids, this speculation must remain speculation, however logical. Perhaps genetic analyses will one day help in sorting out the mysterious parentages of fuchsia hybrids.

Ellobium fulgens (Lilja 1841), F. fulgens var. pumila (Carrière 1881), F. racemosa (Sessé & Moç. 1888) and Spachia fulgens (DC.) Lilja 1840) are all synonyms for this species.

See F. fulgens in ➤ Section Ellobium; also see ➤ Candolle, ➤ Ellobium, ➤ Mociño, ➤ Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain, ➤ Sessé, ➤ Spachia.

(Illustration: The Flower Girl, Charles Cromwell Ingham, 1846. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 02.7.1.)

Furfuracea – Having a meal or scurf; having a flaky surface. See F. furfuracea (I.M.Johnst. 1925) in ➤ Section Fuchsia. No synonyms are recorded for this species.

Fusca – Brown, dusky. F. fusca (E.H.L.Krause 1906) is a synonym of F. decussata (Ruiz & Pav. 1802) in ➤ Section Fuchsia.

Fuschia – See ➤ Misspellings.

Fusia – Very occasionally seen spelling of fuchsia in Spanish. More common is ➤ fucsia.

Fusiform – Shaped like a fusil or spindle; tapering at each end.

Fuxia – Occasional alternative spelling for ➤ fucsia.