Cestrum nocturnum
Cestrum nocturnum
L., Sp. Pl. 191. 1753; Bailey, Stand. Cyclop. Hort. 2: 726. 1919; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed 1: 372. 1918 (Reprint 1973); Bor & Raizada, Beautiful Ind. Climbers and Shrubs 119. 1954; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 17: 331; Nasir, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 57; keralaplants.in
Shrubs, erect or sprawling, 1-4 m tall, sometimes tree-like proportion; branches slender, mostly glabrous, young branches puberulent or glabrescent. Leaves alternate, simple; petiole up to 2.5 cm long; leaf blade 5-16 cm x 2-5.7 cm, elliptic-ovate, oblong-ovate or oblong-lanceolate, margin entire, base cuneate, apex acute. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, more or less leafy panicles, drooping, many-flowered, 7-10 cm long. Flowers actinomorphic, bisexual, 5-merous, hypogynous, greenish-yellow, strongly night-scented, ca. 2.5 cm long and 1 cm across; bracteate, bracts ca. 4 mm long, lanceolate, pubescent; pedicels 1-5 mm long. Calyx campanulate, ca. 4 mm x 1.5 mm, lobes 5, small, ca. 1 mm long, deltoid. Corolla greenish or whitish-yellow, ca. 2.5 cm long, tubular-funnelform; tube ca. 2 cm long, slightly contracted at throat; limb 5-lobed, lobes ca. 5 mm long, ovate or oblong-lanceolate, recurved, abaxially puberulent, each lobe with 2 prominent abaxial ridges. Stamens 5, inserted near the base of corolla tube; filaments with a line of hairs in the lower adnate part, glabrous above, filament with a long (ca. 1 mm) sharp conical or erose tooth at the base of free part; anthers small dehiscing longitudinally. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary ca. 1 mm long, 2-locular, ovules few per loculus, placenta swollen, placentation axile, disc below the ovary; style slender, filiform; stigma dilated, entire or obscurely 2-lobed, slightly exserted. Furits (berries) white, juicy, +/- ovoid, 6-10 mm x 4-10 mm. Seeds 1-5, ellipsoid, 3.5-4.5 mm.
228 species
Common Names: Night Blooming Jasmine, Night Blooming Cestrum, Lady of the Night, Night Queen; Rat ki Rani (Hindi)
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