TABERNAEMONTANA

Tabernaemontana Plum. ex L., Sp. Pl. 1: 210. 1753; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 16: 152.

Shrubs or small trees, latex white. Stems repeatedly dichotomously branched. Leaves opposite; adaxial surface of petiole often with a basal semicircular or semiamplexicaul ochrea. Cymes corymbose or umbellate, at branch forks, many or rarely 1-flowered. Calyx divided halfway down or deeper, with few to many basal glands inside. Corolla salverform, widened at or near middle, lobes sharply overlapping to left (or right). Stamens inserted in widened part of corolla tube; filaments short or almost none; anthers oblong or narrowly triangular, free from pistil head, base sagittate or deeply cordate and not spurred. Disc absent. Ovaries 2, free, ovules numerous; style filiform; pistil head with subglobose or lampshade-shaped basal part and stigmoid, 2-cleft apical part. Follicles 2, divaricate. Seeds with a red or orange fleshy aril; coma absent.

126 species

Tabernaemontana divaricata

Tabernaemontana divaricata (L.) R. Br. ex Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg., ed. 15 [bis]. 4: 427. 1819; T. coronaria (Jacq.) Willde., Enum. Hort. Berol. 275. 1809; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 1: 329. 1918 (Reprint 1973); Ervatamia coronaria (Jacq.) Stapf, Fl. Trip. Afr. 4(1): 127. 1902; E. divaricate (L.) Burkill, Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. 10: 320. 1925; Nerium coronarium Jacq., Collectanea 1: 138. 1787; N. divaricatum L., Sp. Pl. 209. 1753.

A glabrous evergreen dichotomously branched shrub or small tree, up to 5 m tall, bark grey- brown, longitudinally fissured, lenticellate. Leaves opposite, pairs equal or unequal, 3-18 cm x 1-6 cm, elliptic, narrow elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, narrowed towards base, glossy green above, paler beneath, soft, margins wavy, lateral veins 5-12 pairs, tertiary veins inconspicuous; petioles ca. 5 mm long, glabrous. Flowers 2.5-4.5 cm across, white in solitary or twin 1-8-flowered cymes at the bifurcation of the branches; peduncle short, 4-6(-10) cm long; pedicels glabrous, 1.5-2.6 cm long; bracts scale-like, broadly triangular, 1-2 mm long, more or less persistent; flower buds with an ovoid head, apex obtuse or acute. Calyx 4-4.5 mm long, 2.5-3 mm in diameter; tube up to 2 mm long; lobes 5, broadly ovate, often ciliate, lobes with glands inside, glands flat. Corolla white, often with a yellow throat, not fragrant, salver-shaped; tube slender, 1.5-2.7 cm long, swollen nearly in the middle; lobes 5, obliquely elliptic, more or less falcate or obovate, spreading, overlapping to the left, 1.5-2.7 cm x 0.8-1.2 cm. When corolla is double, petals 10, usually in 2 whorls; lobes of lower whorl smaller (2 cm x 1.5 cm) than the upper (2.2 cm x 2.7 cm), white, fragrant, obliquely obovate, margin irregularly dentate or erose. Stamens 5, included, inserted below the middle of corolla tube; filaments very short, 0.5-1 mm long, glabrous; anthers free, 3-3.5 mm long, acute, 2-lobed at base, narrowly triangular, free from pistil head. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary 1, ovoid, ovules many; style filiform, 4.5-8 mm long; pistil head ca. 1.8 mm long, with a subglobose or lamp- shade shaped basal part and stigmoid 2-cleft apical part.

In flowers with double corolla pistil not properly developed with no distinct ovary, style and pistil head. Fruits not developed.

Flowering and Fruiting: Spring and Rainy season; flowers appear sporadically throughout year
Common Names: Crape Jasmine, Moonbeam, Carnation of India, Pinwheel Flower, “Flore Pleno cultivar with double corolla resembling Gardenia; Chandni, Tagar (Hindi)