Ixora Coccinea, Ixora Philippinensis, Ixora Stricta, also know as Flames of the Wood, Jungle Flames, and Jungle Geranium. And yes, it's up to you if what name you wish to call the "Santan Flower". Santan is really a gorgeous flower, "Small but Terrible" as they say, but not the literal one, when I say terrible, I simply mean it's amazing. Nevertheless, Santan is so lovely as it resiliently grows anywhere, even in sandy places.
When I was a kid, I used to suck the Santan's nectar, and it is really so sweet like a honey. My old friends taught me how to do that. Just pick a Santan flower, get its needle-like part in its centre, and gently pull that needle-like stuff. In Zamboanga, Santan can be found anywhere. In fact, you can found Santan flowers that were decorated in most of the parks in Zamboanga. That's how I describe Santan's popularity. Even in our house, we had a Santan shrub, and it is so amazing when it blooms. It's color orange actually and it's not the dwarf-type-flower, it had this very huge, bulky flower as big and round like a basketball (that's so exaggerated, half of the basketball will be more believable) hahahah. Before I forgot, Santan comes in different colors, it has pink, violet, the common red, white, yellow, orange and I think, I saw a blue ones, which is so nice.;) ---> Photos are courtesy of Flickr.
