Botanical name: Ruttya fruticosa    Family: Acanthaceae (Acanthus family)

Rabbit Ears is a beautiful vining shrub covered with very unusual red to dark orange two-lipped tubular flowers with brown markings resembling rabbit's head with ears. This plant is relatively rare. The flowers look like 1-2 inch hummingbirds with their wings swept back or, from the front, like rabbits ears. They are full of and drip nectar. The flowers of Rabbit Ears used to be pulled off and sucked to extract the sweet nectar. The twigs were used to make kohl sticks and wedge-shaped dividers, which women used to part and plait hair. Leaves ovate to elliptic, to 10 cm long, entire, apex acute to rounded, base decurrent. Rabbit Ears is native of eastern Africa, widely cultivated in Africa and elsewhere.

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The flower labeled Rabbit Ears is ...