The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Cestrum fasciculatum

Common Name(s)

red cestrum

Family

Solanaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Habitat

Terrestrial.

Features

Shrub 2-4 m high. Shoots and petioles densely covered in purplish hairs. Petiole to 4 cm long. Lamina 4-15 X 2.5-7.5 cm, narrow to broad-ovate or ovate-elliptic, hairy; base cuneate to rounded; apex acute or shortly acuminate. Panicle dense; peduncles purple, hairy; flowers sessile or subsessile, scentless. Calyx 0.7-1cm long, hairy ouside; lobes c. 2 mm long, +/- triangular, acute. Corolla (1.2)-1.5-2-(2.5) cm long, scarlet; tube funnelform with cylindric base, constricted at apex, densely hairy outside, glabrous inside. Fruit uncommon, 0.7-1.4 cm diam., +/- subglobose to broad-obovoid, dark red. (Webb et al 1988). Leaves with an unpleasant smell.

Similar Taxa

Vegetatively very similar to C. elegans. However in C. fasciculatum the corolla tube is densely hairy outside, usually scarlet, occasionally rosy purple. In C. elegans the carolla tube is glabrous and rosy magenta or deep rose.

Flowering

August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March

Flower Colours

Red / Pink

Year Naturalised

1988

Origin

Mexico

This page last updated on 18 Jan 2010