The mussaenda is an evergreen shrub related to coffee trees and native to Asia. It may be a rather small shrub, or large to 30 feet, like a small tree. Commercial nurseries often train mussaenda to be tree-like in form for landscape use. Their natural habit is to produce many stems and it is quite a rambler. It has silky, hairy, soft medium-green leaves. The plant's color comes from bracts and not the small, often yellow, white or orange, flowers at the center of each bract. This is the same color-producing system used by tropicals such heliconia and bougainvillea. Bracts may be seen in several colors including rose, white, red, pale pink and some mixtures.