Cestrum aurantiacum Lindl.

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘This beautiful deciduous greenhouse shrub is a native of Chimalapa, in Guatamala, where seeds of it were collected by Mr. Skinner, who presented them to the Horticultural Society.  When in flower the plant is a very striking object; the blossoms are produced in great profusion, and have a delicious fragrance.  Their colour is a very bright orange.  In winter, when the branches are divested of leaves, a number of white pear-shaped berries make the plant still an object of attraction. […] The flowers of most of the Cestrums are fragrant, but the berries of several are fatally poisonous.  Some are used in medicine, and others in the arts of life.’  [MB p.77/1847]. 

Introduced to Europe in 1842.  [JD].  ‘It flowered in the Chiswick Garden in August. 1844.  The flowers are not only beautiful, but they last for a long time, and breathe a very pleasant perfume of orange-peel.’  [BR f.22/1845].  OFG f.85/1854.  FS p.79 vol.1/1845.

History at Camden Park

Listed only in the 1857 catalogue [T.306/1857].  Naturalised in parts of Australia including NSW north from Nowra [FNSW].

Notes

Cestrum aurantiacum Mey. ex Steud. (1840) = Freylinia cestroides Colla, a tall South African shrub with fragrant, creamy-white flowers, introduced to Britain in 1774.  [RHSD].