Systematic Classification:
Division : Angiospermae
Class : Dicotyledons
Order : Gentianales
Family : Apocynaceae
Genus : Beaumontia
Species : jerdo Common Name:
Swethapushpi, Nepal trumpet flower.
General Information:
Woody climbers; branchlets pale brownish, terete, 3-10 mm thick, glabrous. Leaves opposite, 12-25 x 3.5-12 cm, narrowly oblong, oblong-elliptic to obovate, obtuse to rounded at base, entire, abruptly caudate at apex (cauda 5-10 mm long), thinly coriaceous, glabrous, dark brown above when dry, paler beneath; lateral nerves 8-14 pairs, faint above, prominent beneath, lax, arcuate; nervules faint above, prominent beneath, scalariform, mostly branched; petioles 1-4 cm long. Inflorescence terminal, few- flowered subumbellate cymes, often once branched towards apex, rusty-pubescent, up to 15 x 15 cm; peduncles 1-4 cm long; bracts foliaceous, up to 15 mm long. Flowers white; pedicels 2.5-3.5 cm long, densely adpressed tawny- pubescent. Calyx lobes 5, foliaceous, almost free, elliptic-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 10-15 x 4-5 mm, acute, densely tawny pubescent. Corolla campanulate; tube ca 15 mm long, hairy at throat inside, lobes 5, spathulate-obovate, 6-7 x 3-3.5 cm, evanescently puberulous outside, glabrous inside. Stamens 5, inserted on the corolla tube; filaments intertwisted; anthers sagittate, adhering with the stigma. Ovary 1, 2-locular; style filiform, puberulous; stigma oblong-fusiform. Fruits splitting into 2 follicles at full maturity, ca 25 cm long, thick and woody.
Economic Importance:
- Its root is used against rheumatism, syphilis, snake bites and reduces fevers.
- The brew made from boiling the leaves is supposed to combat arthritis and rheumatism.