Black Cherry

This is an ornamental plant of the Allamanda genus in the Apocynaceae family, one of the two Allamanda blanchettii vines that I have grown for may years. They bloom profusely all the summer months and well into the fall. The flowers are large and have the color of dark burgundy. Its nicknames are Purple Allamanda, Violet Allamanda and Allamanda Black Cherry.

This is the first time ever that I see a seed pod on this plant which is this thorny ovoid pod in the foreground. There is only one such pod in these very large plants so it must be much easier to propagate this vine by other means than by relying on its seeds. Knowing that its sap is poisonous, I am not going to touch this strange hairy thing because as far as I know, it may have come from outer space!