Firecracker flower
Crossandra infundibuliformis
Also called Crossandra and Firecracker plant
Houseplant · FloweringIt flowers for months on end and asks for warmth it rarely gets — below about 15°C it stops and sulks, and a cold draught from a window in February undoes a whole summer's growth. Never let the compost dry right out.
Care at a glance
- Ease
- Hard
- Water
- Every 4 daysKeep it moist — water at the first hint of dryness — don't wait for a dry pot.
- Light
- Bright indirect, no direct sun
- Feed
- Every 21 days
- Humidity
- High
- Hardiness
- Tropical — indoors, warm RHS H1A, to 15°C
- Size
- 0.5 m tall · 0.4 m across
- Lifecycle
- Perennial
- Origin
- Southern India and Sri Lanka
Is it safe for pets and people?
Its genus has been checked and nothing in it is listed as harmful — but this particular species has not been listed either way.
Nobody has checked this one against a source for us yet, so treat it as unknown rather than safe.
ASPCA names the genus itself — "Crossandra species" — as non-toxic to dogs, cats and horses.
Checked against ASPCA on 2026-09-22.
A guide, not veterinary or medical advice. If a pet or a person has eaten a plant and you are worried, call your vet or doctor now — don’t wait for signs to appear. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
First signs of trouble
- Flowering stops dead and the plant sits doing nothing from October. It wants 15°C as a floor — a windowsill behind closed curtains on a February night is colder than the room, and that is usually where it is.Stopped by cold · disorder
- Lower leaves yellow and drop within a day or two of the pot going light. It has almost no tolerance for drying out once, and none at all for drying out twice.Leaf drop from dry compost · disorder