A sprawling shrub that neither twines nor has tendrils or aerial roots, sprawling to 6 m if unpruned and shrubby if cut back. Whorled glossy oblong leaves. Large funnel flowers of bright yellow up to 10 cm across; the buds look like cicada pupae about to emerge and the stems are soft, hence the Chinese name soft-stemmed yellow cicada; double forms exist. Spiny fruit. All parts poisonous and the sap irritant; the epithet refers to its purgative action.
Habitat
Tropical walls, pergolas, roadsides and parks in sun and moisture; widely planted as hedging and groundcover.
Distribution
Native to Brazil, Bolivia, the Guianas, Suriname and Venezuela and naturalised through the tropics. Very common in Singapore's housing estates and parks, grown in southern China and Taiwan, and in Okinawa.
Season and behaviour
Flowers all year in the tropics, most from March to August with the peak in summer; fruit October to December.
Photography tips
These are the FilmAnalysis editors' notes, not content from the sources.
Big bright-yellow trumpets clip inevitably in direct sun, so a stop under, overcast or early and late; the deeper yellow veins of the throat want a head-on macro. The pupa-shaped bud in profile. A wall of yellow against tropical blue sky with a wide lens. Wash your hands afterwards; the sap is toxic.
Photographic styles
Bright yellow trumpets on a tropical wall; the shape of a bud.
Similar species
Bush allamanda (upright, smaller flowers with red-brown throat stripes); purple allamanda (purple-red); yellow oleander (a tree, smaller flowers).
Related badge
None yet. No validated photo recognition exists for this species, so no badge is tied to it: a name in the encyclopedia is not evidence in a photograph.
The illustration is original FilmAnalysis artwork. The photograph is from Wikimedia Commons; its licence and author are under it.
Why it is listed: this species comes from the Flower checklist (GBIF backbone and Wikidata verified). Names follow the GBIF backbone and Wikidata; the facts follow the sources below; photo recognition is not offered.
