Allamanda cathartica L.

Cultivated for medicine.

An ever green scandent shrub; branches circular, smooth and green. Leaves in whorls of 4 or opposite, oblong, obovate or oblanceolate, 6-10 x 3-4 cm, acuminate, cuneate, ± coriaceous, penni-nerved, entire, glabrous above, pilose on nerves beneath; petiole short c. 5 mm long. Inflorescence axillary or a terminal cymose panicle, bracts deciduous. Flower showy, bright yellow. c. 8 cm in diameter. Sepals 5, lanceolate-ovate, acuminate, glabrous, c. 7-10 mm long. Corolla tube c.2.5 cm long, throat infundibuliform, c. 1.25 cm in diameter, lobes orbricular-rotundate c. 3.5 x 4 cm, glabrous. Stamens inserted in the throat, acute, c. 3.5 mm long; filament very short; style c. 2.5 cm long, filiform; fruit a globose-subglobose prickly capsule, c. 2-3 cm long, prickles soft, c. 7.5 mm long, seeds many, obovate, flat winged.

Shrubs trailing, to 4 m, with white latex. Stems glabrous. Leaves opposite or in whorls of 3-5; petiole ca. 5 mm; leaf blade obovate, narrowly obovate, or oblong, 6-15 X 4-5 cm, glabrous or villous along veins on abaxial surface, lateral veins flattened. Peduncle short. Flowers 7-14 cm. Corolla yellow; tube 4-8 cm, funnelform, cylindric in proximal half, campanulate in distal half, limb 9-14 cm in diam.; lobes obovate-truncate to orbicular. Capsules subglobose, 3-7 X 3-5 cm, with spines to 1 cm. Seeds compressed, winged or with a membranous margin. Fl. spring-summer. 2n = 18.

Distribution: Probably native of South America, now widely spread in tropics and substropics of the world. Cultivated commonly in the gardens in Pakistan.

Fl. Per.: May-August.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan [native to South America]

Allamanda hendersonii Bulliard ex Dombrain; A. cathartica var. hendersonii (Bulliard ex Dombrain) L. H. Bailey & Raffill.

Shrub or liana climbing to 17 m. Leaves in whorls of 3-4, sometimes opposite; petiole short; lamina oblanceolate to elliptic, ± glabrous except on the veins beneath; margin wavy; apex acuminate. Corolla bright yellow, marked with white in the throat, the lobes rounded. Capsule 3-4 cm in diameter, spiny.

Native to northern S America; widespread in cultivation in warm regions of the world

Allamanda cathartica L. Mant. 214. 1771
Orelia grandijlora Aubl. PI. Guian. 271. 1775. Allamanda grandijlora Lam. Fncyc. 4: 601. 1797.
Wholly glabrous to variously pubescent; leaves subcoriaceous to membranaceous, obovate to oblong-lanceolate, 6-12 cm. long, 2.5-6 cm. broad, shortly acuminate, the petioles 2-3 mm. long; inflorescence bearing few to several, showy, yellow flowers; calyx-lobes ovate to ovatelanceolate, acute, 5-12 mm. long, spreading; corolla infundibuliform, the tube proper 20-35 mm. long about 2 mm. in diameter at the base, the throat broadly tubular-conic, 30-40 mm. long, 25-35 mm. in diameter, the lobes obliquely obovate, 25-35 mm. long, widely spreading; capsules globose or subglobose, about 4 cm. in diameter, covered with many spines about 1 cm. long.
Typb locality: Guiana.
Distribution: Probably native to northeastern South America; widely cultivated and escaped in the tropics of both hemispheres.

Allamanda cathartica L

Allamanda cathartica L., Mant. 2:214. 1771.—Hillebrand, Fl. Haw. Is. 284. 1888.—Rechinger, Denks. Akad. Wien 85:330. 1910; Denks. Akad. Wien 89:637. 1913.—Setchell, Carn. Inst. Dep. Mar. Biol. Bull. 20:57. 1924; Univ. Cal. Pub. Bot. 12:200. 1926.—Christophersen, Bish. Mus. Bull. 128:177. 1935.—F.B.H. Brown, Bish. Mus. Bull. 130:229. 1935.

Allamanda hendersonii Bull, Cat. Autumn. 1. 1865.—Wilder, Bish. Mus. Bull. 86:88. 1931.

Allamanda neriifolia sensu Butteaud, Fl. Tahiti. 58. 1891 [non Hooker, 1851].

Allamanda cathartica var. hendersonii (Bull) Rafill in Bailey, Stand. Cyc. Hort. 1:247. 1914.

DESCRIPTION (based on var. hendersonii).—Low shrub or vine to 10 m. Twigs glabrous. Petioles 2–4 mm long. Blades prevailingly oblanceolate, 9–11 × 3–4 cm, cuneate at base, prominently acuminate, coriaceous, shining green, with a few hairs on the veins below. Racemes subterminal, 5–8-flowered. Peduncles (and pedicels at times) puberulent. Sepals ovate, about 15 mm long. Corolla to 13 cm long and wide, bright yellow, with a narrowed basal portion about 4 cm long, tube broadly expanded in upper part, lobes spreading, 5 cm long. Capsule echinate.

RANGE.—Society Islands (cultivated, possibly escaping): Tahiti: Grant 4112, Mataiea, Lake Vaihiria, alt. 450 m (1475 ft), climbing on rocks, probably planted, 7 September 1930, flower (BISH, MIN). Raiatea: Moore 273, Faaroa, alt. 20 m, 2 November 1926, flower (BISH, 2 sheets; MIN).

Both of the above are var. hendersonii, which is the most common form in cultivation the world over. It may be a good species, having larger flowers and thicker leaves than the typical form, in which the flowers are but 5–7.5 cm broad. Butteaud reported A. neriifolia from Tahiti, but did not mention any other species, and the present one is very common there. Setchell (1926:200) reported A. cathartica, but the two specimens listed above are apparently the only collections.

Common in cultivation in the Marquesas, Rarotonga, Samoa, and Hawaii, the collections from the first three localities and most of the Hawaiian plants being var. hendersonii. An escape in Samoa, and possibly here in the Society Islands. A sterile plant from Hivaoa (Mumford and Adamson 407, in 1929, BISH) may be the typical form.

LOCAL NAMES.—Moore records piti, which is the name of the similar but smaller-flowered Tecoma stans, from which the name was presumably taken.

Allamanda cathartica, commonly called golden trumpet, common trumpetvine, and yellow allamanda, is a species of flowering plant of the genus Allamanda in the family Apocynaceae. It is native to Brazil. This plant is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.

It does not twine, nor does it have tendrils or aerial roots. It can be pruned into a shrub form. If not pruned it can sprawl to a height of 20 feet.

The city of Canóvanas, Puerto Rico has adopted this species, known locally as canario amarillo, as its official flower.

Allamanda cathartica flower at Tagore park Mahe district of Puducherry UT, India