Flora of New Zealand Series

orange cestrum

Shrub to c. 2 m high. Lvs glabrous. Petiole 1-5 cm long. Lamina 4-15 × 2-7 cm, oblong-ovate; base cuneate to truncate; apex shortly acuminate. Infl. paniculate; branches puberulent or glabrate; fls sessile or shortly pedicellate, scentless. Calyx tube 6-8 mm long; lobes subulate-acuminate, 0.7-2 mm long, ciliate in sinuses. Corolla 2-2.5 cm long, orange; tube ± cylindric-funnelform; lobes c. 3 mm long, puberulent inside, becoming strongly reflexed, acuminate. Fr. c. 1.5 × 2 cm, ± broadly ellipsoid, white; apex truncate.

N.: N. Auckland to Poverty Bay and Taranaki.

Guatemala 1958

Near gardens in paddocks and surrounding scrub, sometimes forming a dense undergrowth, escape from cultivation.

FL Nov-Jul.

Poisonous (Connor 1977).

Orange cestrum spreads by seed as well as by suckers, although frs are uncommon.