Euonymus americanus No comments yet

Plant Family / Families: Celastraceae
Scientific Name and Author: Euonymus americanus L.
Name Location: Red River Gorge, Kentucky, USA

Thanks to Ruth for today’’s write-up:

Thank you to nebulagirl@Flickr for the sharing of this beautiful photograph (original via the BPotD Flickr Photo Pool). It was taken in Red River Gorge, Kentucky during the month of October.
As the Latin name suggests, Euonymus americanus is a native of the United States — specifically the eastern continental side — with a range extending west to Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Commonly known as hearts-a-bursting or strawberry bush, this shrub grows to 2 meters (6 ft) in height, and has a similar width. The habit is open and straggly. Flowers grow in the leaf axils where the ovaries develop into the warty capsules we observe in this photograph. The fruit reminds me of Arbutus unedo, also called strawberry bush or tree. However, Arbutus unedo (Ericaceae) has fleshy aggregate fruits that are edible and never dehisce or split open to release the seeds. It also has urceolate (urn-shaped) flowers, indicative of the Ericaceae. The Celastraceae is a predominantly tropical family with only three genera from the temperate regions (Euonymus, Maytenus and Celastrus).

Additional photographs are available from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Euonymus americanus.

By:  Daniel Mosquin                        Source

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Oleander No comments yet

Oleander (Nerium oleander), is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the dogbane family Apocynaceae and is one of the most poisonous plants known. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium. Other names include Adelfa, Alheli Extranjero, Baladre, Espirradeira, Flor de São Jose, Laurel de jardín, Laurel rosa, Laurier rose, Flourier rose, Olean, Aiwa, Rosa Francesca, Rosa Laurel, and Rose-bay (Inchem 2005), закум [zakum] (Bulgarian), leandru (Romanian), zakum, zakkum, zakhum (Turkish), zaqqum (Arabic); Kaneru (Sinhalese); in Chinese it is known as jia zhu tao. The ancient city of Volubilis in Morocco took its name from the old Latin name for the flower.

 
Oleander shrub, MoroccoIt is native to a broad area from Morocco and Portugal eastward through the Mediterranean region and southern Asia to Yunnan in southern parts of China. It typically occurs around dry stream beds. It grows to 2-6 m tall, with spreading to erect branches. The leaves are in pairs or whorls of three, thick and leathery, dark green, narrow lanceolate, 5-21 cm long and 1-3.5 cm broad, and with an entire margin. The flowers grow in clusters at the end of each branch; they are white, pink, red or yellow, 2.5-5 cm diameter, with a deeply 5-lobed corolla with a fringe round the central corolla tube. They are often, but not always, sweetly scented. The fruit is a long narrow capsule 5-23 cm long, which splits open at maturity to release numerous downy seeds.

In the past, scented plants were sometimes treated as a distinct species N. odorum, but the character is not constant and it is no longer regarded as a separate taxon.

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