Plant ID.. Caribbean.

[Shelli]

Please help I am in the Caribbean and there is this huge yummi looking bush but seems to hold a mixture of plants in it, I am wondering about the leaves especially and then the flowers... Seems to be two different plants here at least but i'm concerned about the main two pictured, the big plate size leaves and then the leaves that go with the large purple flowers...

Thank you so so much

Large dessert plate sized leaf of bush, not concerned about tiny pink flowers pretend they are not there..

More of the large plate sized leaves going across the fence..

p.s this is Olive the Canadian RF's Mom only I moved.. more about this later.....

 

[biglove4bigtorts]

Hi Olive,
What you have there is Mandavilla. It has milky sap and I would not feed it to m torts, though I am unsure of how toxic it may actually be. Congratulations of moving to a warmer climate!

 

[Shelli]

Thank you, any idea on those large leaves? That don't seem to be part of the Mandavilla.

 

[cdmay]

Shelli,
You have two different plants growing there. The vine with the clusters of pink flowers with the large leaves looks like coral vine, Antigonon leptopus. It grows here in south Florida and can be invasive as it spreads like crazy and will cover other plants. I'm not sure about the flowers or leaves but the tuberous roots are supposedly edible if cooked. I would be very cautious about allowing my tortoises to eat it until you can get more info about it.
The second plant with the large pink flowers is an Allamanda hybrid which is similar to Mandavilla. Both of these plants are in the Apocynaceae which includes desert roses (Adenium sp) and oleanders. All of these plants are incredibly toxic to humans and most wildlife although there are some catapillars that specialize on them. Under no circumstances let your tortoises eat those flowers. Although I would be willing to bet that the tortoises might take one single nip and realize that they are not good to eat. They seem to know about such things inherently.

 

[PeanutbuttER]

Just out of curiosity, which island are you on?

 

[Shelli]

Just out of curiosity, which island are you on?

I'm in Antigua, are you in the Caribbean? There is someone not but a two minute walk away with about 23 red-foots or so in their yard all in beautiful shape ... charging around with the dogs they have it's an incredible sight... I have pictures i'll post them in the general picture place when I get a moment...

---

Thank you for the amazing reply, I will look into the first quote when I have picked the children up from school.
Any chance you could pop over and help me look for some good plants? LOL... I'm sure there's lots but i'm botanically challenged...

Shelli,
You have two different plants growing there. The vine with the clusters of pink flowers with the large leaves looks like coral vine, Antigonon leptopus. It grows here in south Florida and can be invasive as it spreads like crazy and will cover other plants. I'm not sure about the flowers or leaves but the tuberous roots are supposedly edible if cooked. I would be very cautious about allowing my tortoises to eat it until you can get more info about it.
The second plant with the large pink flowers is an Allamanda hybrid which is similar to Mandavilla. Both of these plants are in the Apocynaceae which includes desert roses (Adenium sp) and oleanders. All of these plants are incredibly toxic to humans and most wildlife although there are some catapillars that specialize on them. Under no circumstances let your tortoises eat those flowers. Although I would be willing to bet that the tortoises might take one single nip and realize that they are not good to eat. They seem to know about such things inherently.