Cestrum parqui

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Cestrum parqui' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cestrum/cestrum-parqui/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
axillary
Situated in an axil.
calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
entire
With an unbroken margin.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
panicle
A much-branched inflorescence. paniculate Having the form of a panicle.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Cestrum parqui' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cestrum/cestrum-parqui/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A deciduous shrub 6 to 10 ft high, with quite glabrous young shoots and leaves. Leaves lanceolate to oval-lanceolate, pointed, tapered about equally at both ends or more abruptly towards the base, entire; 112 to 5 in. long, 34 to 2 in. wide; green on both sides; stalk up to 12 in. long. Flowers yellowish green, produced during June and July in a terminal cluster augmented by axillary ones, making altogether a panicle 4 to 6 in. long and slightly downy. Calyx tubular, 316 in. long, downy, toothed, the teeth tipped with down. Corolla-tube 78 in. long, slender, dividing at the top into five oblong spreading lobes that are downy behind and give the flower a diameter of nearly 12 in. Fruit egg-shaped, violet-brown, 38 in. long, the base cupped in the calyx. It is probably poisonous. Bot. Mag., t. 1770.

Native of Chile; introduced in 1787. The plant figured in the Botanical Magazine flowered at Holland House, Kensington, about 1810. The flowers are not very pretty, but they are fragrant at night. The plant itself when touched has a rather heavy odour, like that of the haulm of garden peas. It is not fully hardy near London but will grow in a sunny sheltered nook of a building, especially if covered with a mat in very severe weather. Even if cut down to the ground it will usually break into growth again. The leaves are poisonous to cattle.