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Allamanda (Dr. Allamand, Leyden). Apocynaceae. Tropical shrubs, mostly climbers, grown in greenhouses and conservatories, and in the open far south.
Leaves entire, whorled: fls. terminal, large and funnel-shaped, with a flat spreading or reflexed limb, the tube inflated below the throat in which there are 5 hairy scales; stamens 5, the filaments very short; ovary 1-loculed: the fr. (seldom seen in conservatories) a large spiny globular or oblong pod.—About a dozen species in Brazil and 1 in Cent. Amer.
With the exception of A. violacea and A. neriifolia, all the forms in cultivation are probably forms of one variable species. The original name for this is A. cathartica, and the plants known in the trade as A. grandiflora, A. nobilis, A. Schottii, A. magnifica, A. Williamsii are all referred to it as varieties. For garden purposes they are distinct, but botanically the differences are so slight as not to justify their being retained as species. A. violacea is readily distinguished by the color of the flowers, and A. neriifolia by the swollen base of the corolla.
The allamandas comprise several of the finest climbing plants in cultivation and are general favorites wherever grown. They are of very easy culture, thriving well under the ordinary conditions of a stove or warm greenhouse. A mixture of two parts of strong turfy loam and one part of sharp sand, leaf-mold and charcoal, suits them best. Cuttings root readily in a close case in sandy soil in a temperature of 70° F. at almost any time of the year, but spring is by far the best time, as the young plants have a long season of growth ahead of them and make better plants than those rooted later. Both old and new wood may be used for propagation; the young growth should be taken off with a heel if possible, whilst pieces of the previous season's wood, which has been well ripened, may be cut up into lengths with two or three joints, in spring; the stems which are removed during the annual pruning may be used for this purpose. All the species make most excellent pot-plants, but in order to obtain them at their best they should be planted out in a well-drained border. When well established, either in pots or borders, they should be fed liberally with natural or artificial manures, during the whole of the growing season, as all the species without exception, are gross feeders. After growth has ceased in late autumn or winter, the plants should be kept nearly, but not quite dry at the roots until February or March, when they should be cut back as far as is necessary, and started in a moist position in the greenhouse. Any repotting that they require should be done before the new growths are more than 6 inches long. The weaker kinds, as A. violacea, A. cathartica var. grandiflora and var. Williamsii, are best grafted on the strong-growing var. Hendersonii. Spring and summer.
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