Fred: You are right. I did an online database search of herbarium specimens and it seems that the species I saw is almost assuredly F. fulgens because F. decidua has never been collected in Mexico State. >Dennis, Your sighting, if it had red and green flowers, is probably Fuchsia >fulgens. The F. decidua had red tubular/funnelform flowers in handingclusters. Only found >them growing in the moss on oak trunks, along the >escarpment of the Sierra Minatlan, where the fog/clouds would pour over >irrigating and air conditioning the mountain in moisture and coolth. >Explored nearby rocky cliffs, which were plastered with lithophytes, but >didn't see the Fuchsia there. Fuchsia fulgens and F. decidua seem closely >related. Chuck: A check of nomenclature leads me to believe that you have F. boliviana and not F. boliviensis. This may be why Carolyn was unable to find images of the plant that you describe. >I saw your interest in the epiphytic Fuchsias, which i have also, but I have >a species, F. boliviensis, Joe: I think that Fuchsia fulgens would probably survive brief periods of frost in the early hours of the morning before things warmed up again. The area where they grow is subject to occasional frost in the months of December and January. However, the cover of Oak leaves protects them to an extent, and the fact that they live off of the ground as an epiphyte means that they would not be exposed to the coldest air which would be found at the base of the tree. To help you get a sense of temperatures, the orchids that grow in that area are classified as requiring Cool-to-Intermediate growing conditions. Joe, you are right when you say that the heat and humidity in Houston would probably kill the plant before the cold temperatures would get a chance to cause freeze damage. I don't think that the plant could take sustained temperatures above 90 degrees. I think that people in Northern California or the Pacific Northwest would best be able to approximate the natural growing conditions of this plant. >I'm very curious about the cold tolerance of Fuchsia spp. growing at 1800 m >on lava. Mary Sue was kind enough to create a page on the Wiki for Fuchsia, so I'm going to post a picture of the plant's tuberous roots. The plant I collected is sprouting new growth from the tips of the branches and with some luck I should have flowers in about 3 months or so. At that time, I will update the wiki with pictures of the flowers. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… -Dennis