Cestrum diurnum

Cestrum diurnum

Cestrum diurnum is a species of the genus of shrubs Hammer ( Cestrum ).

Description

Cestrum diurnum is a 1-5 m high shrub or tree up to 10 m high. The branches are often hanging down, the branches are thin, glabrous or more or less hairy. The leaves are elongated or oblong -elliptic, membranous and up to 15 cm long and 6.5 cm wide. Forward towards the leaf blade is pointed up pointed or blunt, the base is narrowed. The top is glabrous and green to yellowish- green, the underside can be hairy along the veins and is pale green. The petioles are up to 2.5 cm long.

The panicle inflorescences are as long as the leaves roughly or are shorter. They consist of several flowers that smell at night. The flower stalks are 1-7 cm long. The calyx is bell-shaped, 3 to 4.5 mm long and covered with triangular calyx lobes. The crown is white to greenish- white or cream-colored, 12 to 17 mm long and covered with elongated, blunt corolla lobes. The stamens are straight, have no tooth at the base on.

The berries are purple - blue to black, elliptical and 6-7 mm long.

Occurrence

The species occurs in tropical America, in the West Indian Islands, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Hispaniola. It grows on banks and roadsides at low altitudes.

Swell

• Henri Alain Liogier: Descriptive Flora of Puerto Rico and adjancent Islands, Spermatophyta, Volume IV: Melastomataceae to Lentibulariaceae. Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1995, ISBN 0-8477-2337-2.