Cestrum latifolium Lam.

Species

Angiosperms > Solanales > Solanaceae > Cestrum

Characteristics

Shrub or tree to 12 m tall; twigs glabrous or puberulent, soon becoming greenish yellow. Leaves to 25 cm long, ovate or elliptic, often oblique, apically acute or acuminate, basally rounded or obtuse with scattered, short, simple hairs on both sides, more frequent on the lower surface especially along the con-spicuous major veins; petioles to 4 cm long, puberulent; minor leaves wanting. Inflorescences many, short racemes or short-branched panicles, axillary or terminal; peduncles to 1.5 cm long, pubescent, many-flowered; pedicels to 1 mm long with short bracteoles. Flowers caducous, the calyx 1-2 mm long, cam-panulate, yellowish, puberulent outside, glabrous within, with 5 short-dentate lobes; corolla whitish-yellow, sometimes with purple blotches, the tube to 20 mm long, slender but gradually widening at the apex, glabrous outside, inside pubescent at the base and often above the middle as well, lobes ca. 2 mm long, narrowly deltoid; stamens equal, the filaments 1-3 mm free, barbellate to densely pilose about 3 mm below the anthers (at or just below the point of insertion); ovary with about 8 ovules, the stigma included. Fruit a juicy berry, 5-9 mm long, obovate, ripening through pink to shiny black; seeds several. This is a common weedy tree in lowland Panama ranging east to the Guianas and Brazil and west to Nicaragua. It is present in the Antilles. When in full bloom the tree is showy, but flowers are easily dislodged and few herbarium specimens retain more than a small representation of the blooms on the twig. Cestrum latifolium is easily recognized by its pubescent leaves, which are usually broad and oblique. Small-leaved specimens in fruit may be difficult to distinguish from those of C. alternifolium. In the field, this species is identifiable by its arboreal stature and weedy occurrence in fence rows, pastures and other sites of recent disturbance. It flowers sporadically, most branches then heavily laden with flowers for a short time.
More
A shrub or slender tree. It grows 4 m tall. The flowers are in tufts in the axils of leaves. There are 4-12 flowers in a group. The fruit is an oval berry. It is 0.7 cm long by 0.5 cm wide. The fruit are green to dark purplish-blue. There are 3-4 seeds.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 8.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

A tropical plant. It grows in coastal areas and in open savanna forest and on slopes. It grows in moist rich soil and can be in full sun or light shade.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

CAUTION: Many Cestrum are poisonous.
Uses medicinal poison
Edible fruits leaves
Therapeutic use Boil (unspecified), Mange (unspecified), Marasmus (unspecified), Rash (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seeds or tip cuttings.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Cestrum latifolium world distribution map, present in Brazil, Barbados, Colombia, Dominica, French Guiana, Guyana, Saint Lucia, Martinique, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Conservation status

Cestrum latifolium threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:324587-2
WFO ID wfo-0001020627
COL ID T5Q9
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 629304
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Cestrum bilbergianum Cestrum albopunctatum Cestrum floribundum Cestrum latifolium Cestrum latifolium Cestrum macrophyllum Cestrum poeppigii Cestrum poeppigii Cestrum prieurei Wadea latifolia Cestrum chloranthum Cestrum hirtum Cestrum ovatum Cestrum vespertinum Cestrum tenuiflorum Cestrum latifolium var. tenuiflorum Cestrum oliganthum var. latifolium