Mandevilla
(named after H. J. Mandeville, a British Minister at Buenos Ayres). SYN. Amblyanthera. ORD. Apocynaceae. A genus comprising about forty-five species of tall climbing shrubs, natives, for the most part, of tropical America. Flowers yellow, white, or rarely violet, often large, in simple racemes; calyx five-parted; corolla funnel-shaped; tube cylindrical or ovoid; throat campanulate or oblong, without scales. Leaves opposite, feather-veined. M. suaveolens, the only species yet introduced, is a very handsome, half-hardy, deciduous climber, thriving in a compost of good peat and turfy loam, in equal parts, to which may be added plenty of silver sand. It forms an excellent subject for planting in a conservatory and training up a rafter, or may be successfully cultivated, in some parts of England, in the open air, if provided with protection in winter. Propagated by cuttings, made of small, stiff, side shoots, about 3in. long, and inserted in sand, under a bell glass. This plant rarely succeeds when grown in pots.
M. suaveolens (sweet-scented). fl. pure white, large, very fragrant, sometimes borne in great profusion. Summer. l. opposite, cordate oblong, dark green. Buenos Ayres, 1837. (B. M. 3797; B. R. xxvi. 7.)