Rauvolfia samarensis Merrill   Apocynaceae  (Dogbane Family)   Philippine Islands   Rauvolfia

                              March Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Deciduous tree, +/- 5 m. tall, +/- 5 m. in dia., with milky juice; lvs. elliptic, whorled, to 36 cm. long, 6 cm. wide, with prominent mid-vein, glabrous, entire, dark green above, light green below, lower lvs. sessile, upper with short petiole; fls. bisexual, regular, in paniculate clusters, peduncles stout; calyx 5-parted, glabrous, deltoid, 1 mm. long, the lobes imbricated; corolla gamopetalous, the five lobes convolute and twisted in the bud, 5 mm. in dia., white, the tube campanulate, 7 mm. long, the throat closed with white hairs; stamens 5, alternate with corolla lobes, inserted on mouth of corolla, anthers sagittate and acute, pollen granular, filaments free; ovary superior, 2 celled; drupes ellipsoid, to 12 mm. long, dark purple, rather fleshy.   

Habitat:  Native of the Samar, the third largest of the Philippine Islands.  Blooms April-June here.

Name:  Origin of the genus name Rauvolfia is unknown.  Samarensis, of Samar Island in the Philippines.  (Bailey, Hortus Third  942).

General:  Rare in the study area with only one tree known, this one quite large but hiding behind the tall cat-tails along Back Bay Dr., about 3/8 mile northerly of Big Canyon.  Two more smaller trees have subsequently been found on the bluff farther along Back Bay Drive (my comment).        About 300 genera and 1300 or more species of herbs, shrubs or trees, often climbing, of wide range but most abundant in trop. regions, several grown for ornament and a few for edible fruits.  (Bailey, Manual of Cultivated Plants 808).        The leaves of this plant resemble those of Plumeria, the fragrant flowering tree of Hawaii and other tropical places.  Plumeria is in the family Apocynaceae.  (my comments).      Rauvolfias are cultivated as ornamentals and for curiosity; in some tropical countries, some species, especially R. serpentina, are grown as a source of tranquilizing drugs, which are derived from the roots.  Propagated by stem and root cuttings.  (Bailey, Hortus Third 942).

Text Ref:  Bailey 808; Bailey, Hortus Third 942.

Photo Ref:  Jan-Mar 96 # 16,17; May 96 # 2A.

Identity: by John Johnson.

First Found:  March 1997.   

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 492.

Plant specimen given to UC Riverside in 2004.

Last Edit 7/4/05.  

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