Guettarda
(named in honour of John Etienne Guettard, 1715-1786, member of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, who published, in 1747, a catalogue of the plants growing in the vicinity of Estampes). Including Cadamba and Laugeria. ORD. Rubiaceae. A genus containing about fifty species of ornamental stove evergreen shrubs or small trees, natives chiefly of tropical America. Flowers sessile and unilateral along the branches of the peduncles, and solitary in the forks; corolla salver-shaped, with a cylindrical tube, and from four to nine oval-oblong lobes; peduncles axillary, bifid. Leaves ovate or lanceolate. Guettardas succeed best in peat and loam mixed. Propagated by cuttings, inserted in sand, in heat.
G. odorata (sweet-scented).* fl. reddish, nearly 1in. long, villous on the outside, very sweet-scented at night; cymes bifid. Summer. l. oval, acute at both ends. h. 6ft. to 10ft. Tropical America, 1818. Shrub. G. rugosa (wrinkled). A synonym of G. scabra.
G. scabra (scabrous). fl. white; peduncles compressed, villous, almost four times longer than the petioles. l. obovate, mucronate, coriaceous, scabrous above, reticulated and pubescent beneath; stipules lanceolate, acuminated, caducous. West Indies, 1818. Tree. SYN. G. rugosa.
G. speciosa (showy). fl. white, exquisitely fragrant, partaking much of the scent of cloves, large; cymes pedunculate, velvety, much shorter than the leaves. June and July. l. broad, ovate or obovate, downy beneath. Branches horizontal, forming a large shady head. h. 30ft. Tropical Asia, 1771. Tree. (B. R. 1393.)