Mandevilla, Dipladenia (Mandevilla splendens)

Violet Trumpet Vine
Clytostoma callistegioides

Delightful blooms. No negatives except bloom season too short.

The plant on this picture looks more like a Bignoniaceae.

Monocromatico, I think you're right - and my guess is that this is perhaps Violet Trumpet Vine or Clytostoma callistegioides:
http://plantsdatabase.com/go/2749/index.html - monterey's picture is particularly similar: http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/38275/

trois, please take a look and let us know. It seems we both need to be more careful with your images (I should have looked closer before I released that one.) I may not live in the tropics, but even here in Tennessee, I *should* know Mandevilla when I see it, and know when I'm looking at something else entirely. ;o)

Hi, I'll be interested to know what it is. It looks very much like a Streptocarpus (I can't see the foliage clearly but that's probably where it differs), which is an awesome South African plant with flowers that look just like this picture, in shades of white, pink, blue, purple & magenta. If you aren't familiar with it you should check it out. It used to be very neglected but in the past year it's become huge in SA, with every supermarket selling arrays of them. Really a stunning plant that takes all manner of abuse & neglect & just carries on flowering, all year round. It likes shade or semi-shade & is incredibly hardy.

My guess is that this plant's leaves are much larger (more like a Mandevilla) and shiny, where Streptocarpus tend to be pretty fuzzy, don't they? Here in the U.S., at least there would also be a signficant size different - the Streptocarpus I see are smallish houseplants, while Mandevilla and vines in the Bignoniaceae family are typically pretty large.

Trois emailed me yesterday with this note:

"I just returned from the Palm Nursery South of Houston, where they were unloading thousands of new Mandevilla, all pink and except for color, exactly the same as your listing of Argentine Trumpet Vine. These were shipped in from Florida, An 18 wheeler full. Why are there so many errors in the identification of plants. I showed a picture of the Purple Mandevilla to the botanist at this Nursery and he identified it as a Mandevillas. There is little similarity between the Argentine Trumpet Vine and the Mandevilla, especially in the blossom throat area. Why so much confusion?"

To which I would have to say that (in my opinion) some of the confusion comes in when people in the trade use a common name to describe a plant, rather than its botanical name. In the case of Mandevilla, it's one and the same, but Mandevilla is sometimes called "Allamanda" which is a name loosely applied to many plants in both families.

I'm going to leave this one outstanding for a few more days and see if we can get a firm ID - if not, we'll have to remove it from the PDB.

That's a Lavender Trumpet Vine flower. They look that color in the shade when shot without white balance correction.

The Lavender Trumpet picture looks very similar, but the throat area is round, while in the throat area of whatever plant I have is very flattened. If it ever stops raining, I will send new pictures with leaves. Last night's storm ruined all the flowers. More buds coming. All of the labeled Mandevilla at the nursery had flattened throats. I use white balance color correction.

maybe a Pandorea pandorana? Here is an image of mine, in a blush pink. The leaves are glossy. The flower has 5 petals and the throat is somewhat flat.

Trois, has it ever made a seed pod? If so, what did it look like?

Edit to say: the Pandora flower has different colors, however, not sure if blue is one.

This message was edited May 14, 2004 9:12 AM

Like this? Check out the big waxy leaves.

This message was edited May 14, 2004 7:16 AM

This is the full plant. Does this look like your's?

It looks like Thunbergia Grandiflora to me. Is it possible that the leaves do not belong to the flower?

Brugie, I'm fairly confident the leaves and flowers go together.

Here are some images of Thunbergia grandiflora for comparison (because I've learned to "never say never" :o)

Overall plant: http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/10913/ & leaves

Closeup of flowers: http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/13081/

Buds: http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/38122/

Check out the throat 4 pictures up. Here is a match.In the first picture there is the back of the flower, like in this one above the two flowers.

I agree that leaves and all it matches Monterey's picture of a Lavender Trumpet Vine. The pictures of the flattened throat look identical.

I guess people that sell flowers just pick a name that sounds good. These were unloaded from a truck with the stick in labels already attached.

Trois

This plant has never made seed pods. This one get almost no sun at all, but then here nothing does. It is cloudy a great deal of the time, plus this one is under a porch which is under a couple of large trees.

trois, I'm afraid you're right about picking names that sound good. And quite frankly, a lot of gardeners couldn't care less - they just want a pretty plant, and don't care what it's called.

Of course, when they try to locate the same plant next year (especially if from a different seller), they're likely to be disappointed when they ask for Mandevilla and get...Mandevilla. Most reputable, established nursery centers are fairly careful about plant names, as are the commercial growers who sell to them.

But this time of year, it seems everybody and his dog is selling plants, many of which come off the back of a rented truck, and neither the buyer nor seller really has a clue about the plant's true identity.

That's one reason we're pretty picky about the plant names in the PDB - when that disappointed buyer goes online to hunt down the true identity of the pretty plant, we want them to have confidence that our images are correctly named ;o)

There is a hibiscus that Homedepot, Lowes and all the nurseries in the area here call Santana. It does not look like the one online .It is a definite name here. I thought as you said that maybe a wrong label or some such.Lowes has a hibiscus which I have by the name Sensation, It has a tag, picture, and all of the info. It is like a Monrovia tag. I looked up the plant online. The Database has no picture . The only one I can find does not look like it. This is it. I would like to put it in , but I don't want a wrong name for the plant. The last thing I would ever want is to put something wrong into the Database, because I use it, as so many else as a wonderful tool for an information source. It's too good to be compromised

If I may add to Terrys comment regarding the name usage of various companies.

Gardening has become increasingly popular world wide in recent years and this has resulted in a much larger group of intermediate and experienced garden hobbists. With the increase of the experience within the group there is more and more pressure on the growers to supply a larger amount different species.

This has contributed to the closure of some of the smaller outlets that made a living from the usual, day to day plants or a small group of specialist plants, as they don't have the sapce or time to hold enough stock to keep the customers coming in through the door. The larger outlets have been able to reduce their average or specialist stock and bring in a much wider range.

Larger outlets don't always know their stock so well as they supply so many different kinds, they employ a wider range of people from differing backgrounds too (hey we all have to earn a living *G*).

Tie all this in with the proven fact that people much prefer to buy a plant with a 'common name' listed, botanical names being the bonus element rather than the other way around, and you end up with garden outlets not knowing the plants they are selling!

Hi Terry, ja Streptocarpus leages are big & fuzzy - and the commonly available plants now do seem to have smaller flowers, but the ones originally available (probably closer to the indigenous originals) have big flowers, almost as big as Mandevillas.

I never got a chance to see whether my pink Mandevilla (called Dipladenia splendens here) got seed pods but my Mandevilla laxa (white one) certainly had loads of long seed pods, about 30cm.