Just as fashion influences what we wear, it also determines to a large extent the plants we buy for our apartments, gardens and public greenery. In recent years, we have very often seen a small creeper with distinctive flowers in containers. Mandevila is in fashion and maybe you have it at home too.
Rod Mandeville it is rich, in total science knows about 180 species. It was named in honor of the British diplomat and enthusiastic admirer and grower of exotic plants named Henry Mandeville (1773-1861). Surely he would be happy how beautiful plants bear his name, because the most popular species were discovered only after his death. What he probably wouldn’t be happy about is the honored name of Mandeville, in which one letter was incorrectly lost.
Where are they at home?
Mandevilles are semi-woody vines, shrubs, or perennial herbs native to the tropics and subtropics of Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. They grow in the lowlands and in the mountains, in dry scrubby savannahs and in rainy and foggy mountain forests. Very often we can also see them in the thickets of the forest canopy, in non-native stands that have been cut down and overgrown by air raids, and in weed beds around villages.
All species have responsive oval or narrowly ovate pointed leaves that have small glands at the base. Some species have densely hairy leaves. Grape-like inflorescences grow from the axils of the leaves, usually in pairs. The flowers of many species are large and distinctly colored, they can be red, purple, purple, pink, orange, yellow, white or greenish, there are also species with two-color flowers. The calyx is tubular and five-toothed, often irregular, the crown cup-shaped, funnel-shaped or tubular with free, spirally twisted lobes.
Dangerously poisonous
What is important to growers and owners is toxicity. When injured, the leaves and stems ooze poisonous milk. These plants belong to the sedge family (Apocynaceae), which almost always means significant toxicity. Experienced growers will notice at first glance the characteristic flower shape, reminiscent of oleander, adenia and other highly poisonous plants – this flower shape should be a warning to everyone of toxic dangers.
One of the species M. scabrais used along with brunfelsies and psychotries as an ingredient in the toxic infusion used in the ceremony ayahuasca. It is definitely out of the reach of children and pets.
Species, hybrids and cultivars
Species from South America are most often grown. The most popular is the large-flowered species Mandevilla splendenswho hails from the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. It grows to a height of around three meters and has shiny, up to 20 cm long, narrow oval leaves with a pronounced undulation between the veins. The palm-sized flowers are wide open, deep pink and yellow in the center.
The species is also a favorite among growers and breeders Sander of Mandevilla from the same region of Brazil. It is also used for crossing Mandevilla boliviensis with white or pale pink flowers. Blooms yellow Mandevilla scabra from the tropics of South America, it has completely white flowers Mandevilla laxa from the mountains from Peru to Argentina. Cold-loving M. laxa it is also frost-resistant from its homeland, it can withstand temperatures down to -5 ̊C and in southern England or in southwestern Europe it can survive outside all year round.
Darling of breeders
Native species are beautiful and attractive, but humans have a need to constantly improve something. Breeders were diligently breeding already in the middle of the 19th century, but the discovery of the species gave them new possibilities Mandevilla splendens. They probably crossed it with a species M. boliviensis and then with another unknown species and they got the gem Mandeville x lovelyprofusely blooming with large pink flowers with a yellow spot in the gullet. The selected cultivar ‘Alice do Pont’ is still popular today. Sundaville hybrids are also popular today, which are plants bred for containers, i.e. compact, blooming profusely and for a long time.
Cultivation in the tropics and here
Mandevilles are among the popular and often cultivated plants despite their considerable toxicity. We see them in the tropics, subtropics and in Europe, in private gardens and in public gardens. Even in the tropics, they are often grown in containers in front of restaurants, hotel receptions, but also in front of poor huts. In these cases, the flower pot is, for example, an old cracked bucket or a rusty can.
In our country, it is grown as a decorative green in containers, which decorates a terrace or balcony in summer, a cooler corridor or veranda in winter. A few plants in a large container look very good in combination with other vegetatively propagated seasonal flowers. They can also be tied to the structure they climb on, or grown on the balcony as flimsy overhanging plants. They must be planted in larger containers in loose, nutrient-rich compost soil. During the growing season, fertilize by spraying on the leaves, granules or sticks. Since the parents of the most commonly grown hybrids mostly come from the subtropics of South America, where they have a colder and drier season during their winter, they need similar conditions when growing here. They need to winter with enough light, with only moderate watering and at temperatures of 10 to 15 °C. You cut them deeply in the spring, you can use the cuttings for propagation – they root well in moisture and heat. Some species and cultivars shed for the winter.
About the author
Romana Rybková is the curator of tropical plants in the Botanical Garden of the capital City of Prague.
