Ungnadia speciosa Endl.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Ungnadia speciosa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ungnadia/ungnadia-speciosa/). Accessed 2024-10-08.

Common Names

  • Mexican Buckeye
  • Spanish Buckeye

Other taxa in genus

    Glossary

    calyx
    (pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
    style
    Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.
    acuminate
    Narrowing gradually to a point.
    alternate
    Attached singly along the axis not in pairs or whorls.
    apex
    (pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
    capsule
    Dry dehiscent fruit; formed from syncarpous ovary.
    exserted
    Protruding; pushed out.
    glabrous
    Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
    globose
    globularSpherical or globe-shaped.
    lanceolate
    Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
    ovate
    Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
    imparipinnate
    Odd-pinnate; (of a compound leaf) with a central rachis and an uneven number of leaflets due to the presence of a terminal leaflet. (Cf. paripinnate.)
    stigma
    (in a flower) The part of the carpel that receives pollen and on which it germinates. May be at the tip of a short or long style or may be reduced to a stigmatic surface at the apex of the ovary.

    References

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    Credits

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

    Recommended citation
    'Ungnadia speciosa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ungnadia/ungnadia-speciosa/). Accessed 2024-10-08.

    A deciduous shrub, or sometimes a small tree to about 35 ft high in the wild; winter-buds globose, many-scaled. Leaves alternate, odd-pinnate, on petioles up to 6 in. long; leaflets mostly five or seven, sometimes three, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 3 to 5 in. long, almost glabrous when mature. Flowers fragrant, about 1 in. across, borne in spring before or with the leaves in small clusters from the previous season’s wood. Calyx five-lobed. Petals four or five, obovate, clawed, spreading, bright rosy pink, crested with fleshy hairs at the apex. Stamens seven to ten, long-exserted. Style one, slender, with a minute stigma. Fruit a three-valved pear-shaped capsule, roughened but not prickly. Seeds globose, dark brown or black, about 12 in. wide.

    Native of northern Mexico, extending into New Mexico and Texas, where, according to Sargent, it is commonest and attains its greatest size fifty miles from the coast west of the Colorado River. Although introduced in 1850, the Mexican buckeye is little known in this country. In old horticultural works it is mentioned as a shrub to be stood outside during the summer and overwintered under glass, but is probably hardy enough to survive most winters in Britain. There is, however, little hope of seeing unprotected plants in flower unless the wood is well-ripened before winter. It is certainly not a species for cool, rainy localities, and is most likely to succeed in eastern or south-eastern England, against a sunny wall.