Addisonia 21 



(Plate 131) 



URECHITES PINETORUM 

 Wild Allamanda 



Native of southern Florida 

 Family Apocynaceae; Dogbane Family 



Urecliites pinetorum Small, sp. no v. 



A gray-green plant with an underground stem, the branches 

 erect, usually simple and less than a yard tall, rarely slightly more 

 elongate and sparingly branched and sprawling or reclining, copi- 

 ously fine-pubescent. The leaves are opposite, commonly spread- 

 ing, usually rather close together, one and a half to three inches long. 

 The blades are obovate, oval, or elliptic, gradually or abruptly 

 narrowed into short petioles, dull, copiously fine-pubescent at 

 least when young, persistently pubescent but with the hairs some- 

 times scattered at maturity, becoming finely reticulate, especially 

 beneath, more or less revolute, with the midrib closely soft-pubes- 

 cent. The flowers are borne in lateral racemes, usually few together, 

 somewhat nodding. The calyx is green, finely pubescent, with 

 lanceolate-subulate, somewhat involute, acuminate lobes. The 

 corolla is yellow, showy, with a tube about as long as the calyx, a 

 campanulate throat, and a limb two and a half to three and a half 

 inches wide. The lobes of the limb are about as wide as long, 

 oblique and obliquely pointed. The anther-bodies are lanceolate- 

 sagittate, nearly a half inch long, each v/ith two curved appendages 

 at the base and an elongate slender strap-like appendage at the 

 apex. The filaments are stout and only about one third as long as 

 the anther-bodies, pubescent. The style and stigma are glabrous. 

 The follicles are paired, elongate-subulate, three and a half to seven 

 and a half inches long, curved, finely fluted and minutely pubescent 

 in age. The seeds are numerous, each terminated with a tuft of 

 silky hairs longer than the body and beak. The seed-body is 

 linear-cylindric, less than a quarter of an inch long, brown and 

 tipped by a slender beak. 



Most of the flovN^ers of the northern species of the dogbane family 

 are small and inconspicuous or relatively inconspicuous. However, 

 in the tropics there are many kinds with large and showy flowers. 

 In northern conservatories and in southern gardens the allamandas 

 are striking plants on account of their beautiful green foliage and 

 the showy yellow flowers. The hammocks and pinelands of tropical 

 Florida harbor several handsome plants of the dogbane family. 

 Those with yellow corollas are often popularly known as wild 

 allamandas. 



