Tevetia peruviana
Peruvian Tevetia (lat. Thevetia peruviana) is an unpretentious shrub or small tree with picturesque flowers and beautiful narrow leaves with a glossy surface.
Behind the decorative appearance lies a danger to human life, since all parts of the plant are very toxic.
Description
Tevetia peruviana, which was born in the American tropics, like many other tropical plants, combines external beauty and internal deceit.
Its flexible stems bend toward the surface of the earth under the weight of hard, narrow leaves, the surface of which is covered with a thin waxy coating. This coating gives the leaves a noble shine and plays a protective function, preventing moisture from evaporating when the sun licks up every drop of water that has not had time to hide in a reliable shelter.
Against the background of green shiny leaves, single (or inflorescences of two or three flowers) yellow large funnel-shaped flowers, sometimes fragrant, stand out. There are species with apricot or white petals. Nature has arranged the five petals so intricately that, as a whole, they resemble the fluffy long skirt of a dancer who has made a sharp turn, causing the hem of the skirt to wrap around invisible legs like a spiral.
The most dangerous part of Tevetia peruviana for humans is its fruit. A nice-looking round ball, green at the beginning of life and turning black at maturity, hides a poisonous seed under a thin layer of pulp.
What”s in your name
The specific Latin name “Thevetia” honored the memory of the French Franciscan priest, Andre Thevet, who, together with the conquerors of the New World, visited the lands of modern Brazil and created a manuscript equipped with reliable pictures depicting the life of the aborigines, animals and plants of South America. Andre Theve”s work was highly appreciated by educated contemporaries and served as a teaching tool for many botanists for centuries.
Along with the official name, the plant has many others, which are given by ordinary people in different countries who are not familiar with scientific botany. For certain similarities with the common Oleander, Tevetia is called “Yellow Oleander” by many. And for the flowers that look like virtuoso bells, they are simply called “Yellow Bells”.
There is also a name that is in no way compatible with the insidious abilities of Tevetia seeds — “Lucky Nut”. That”s what the West Indians call him.
In Spain, the plant is called “Cascabela Thevetia”, alluding to the toxicity of Tevetia, which is akin to the venom of a rattlesnake.
Usage
Tevetia peruviana is widely used as an ornamental plant in parks and gardens in warm climates. Where winters are frosty, admirers of the beauty of Tevetia grow it as a houseplant, or transfer it to greenhouses or conservatories for the winter.
When growing such a plant at home, you need to remember about its insidious abilities, and therefore, when caring for the beauty, do not forget to use protective equipment. If there are small children in the house, then it is better to abandon such exotics and grow harmless plants that our earth is rich in.
Tevetia”s unpretentiousness to soils, high resistance to drought, turns the plant into an annoying weed, against which laws are even written prohibiting its cultivation in one country or another (for example, in Australia, southern Africa).
Attempts have been made to use the toxicity of Tevetia in agricultural pest control. But such abilities of Tevetia have not yet received widespread use.
Poisonous seed oil has been tried to be used in the production of antibacterial, antifungal and anti-termite paint.
