Odontadenia
(from odous, odontos, a tooth, and aden, a gland; in allusion to the five-toothed glands). SYNS. Anisolobus, Cylicadenia. ORD. Apocynaceae. A genus comprising about eighteen species of stove, scandent shrubs, natives of tropical America, mostly Brazil and Guiana. Flowers yellow, showy, disposed in loose, often large, rarely few-flowered and scarcely branched cymes; calyx five-parted; corolla funnel-shaped or sub-hypocrateriform. Leaves opposite, penniveined. O. speciosa, probably the only species in cultivation, perhaps does best when planted out in a prepared border in the stove, and the long shoots trained along the rafters. If cultivated in pots, a fairly liberal amount of root-room must be accorded; and thorough drainage is always essential. Good turfy loam, pieces of charcoal, a handful of coarsely-crushed bones and sharp sand, make a compost in which the species succeed well. Insects must be kept in check by fumigation, or the use of one or other of the insecticides mentioned in this work. Odontadenias are propagated by cuttings of the young shoots, which strike readily in bottom heat.
O. speciosa (showy). fl. bright yellow, shaded with orange, large, of good form, and delicately scented. l. large, oblongovate, acute, quite smooth, dark green. Trinidad, 1854. SYN. Dipladenia Harrisi. (B. M. 4825.)