Queen of the Night, Cestrum Nocturnum

Name: Queen of the Night, Night-blooming Cestrum, Hasna Hena, Lady of the Night, Night-blooming Jessamine and Night-Blooming Jasmine

Latin name: Cestrum Nocturnum

Foliage: It is a perennial shrub, in winter it maintains most of his leafs. We need to take care of frosts because it can cause the death of our plant.

Mature height:  the Queen of the Night can reach from 4 feets to 13 feets.

Description: It is a Solanaceae family plant, that during the hottest summer days, the flowers stay closed, waiting until de night when the flowers open and give off an spectacular and excelent perfum

Native to the American Continent, it can be found in whole South America, also in the south of Mexico.

It is used on isolated form, on groups and for informal hedges.

It is a shrub with pubescent and glabrescent branches. The leafs are ovoid or elliptic, it has from 2,3 to 4,3 lenght, it finishes in tip.

The cluster appears with bunch form with a lot of flowers, laterals or terminales, often on leafy brunches, frecuently accumulated or forming bunches.

Her flowers are very large, small, with tubular form and her color changes from white to greenest yellow, depending on the variety. From her nighty fragant flowers cames off one pleasant smell, filling the hotest night off the summer.

Flowers

The fruit is one globular berry, it has from 0,9/32 inches to 0,25/64, white; with seeds from 0.1/8 inches to 0,15/64 inches lenght.

Fruits

Soil and Location: It tolerates all kind of lands, as long as they have water in summer and the land is fertilizated, but well drained.

The places in broad daylight are advisable for the Queen of the Night, or better with light shadow. If we put it in full shadow it will have problems to give flowers.

It likes the sunny areas, but no combined with high temperatures because it could burn our plant.

The soft climate helps the plant. Climates where the winters are not specially cold. It does not resist high intensity frosts, only the slight ones. (28,4 ºF)

Irrigation: During the summer, in the hottest days, it will be necessary to irrigate it.

During the summer, of the plant is in a plant pot, irrigate it every two days. In winter, it depends on the plant necessities. If the plant loses his leafs it would be necessary to irrigate it more.

Irrigation excess can yellow the leaves slightly. If it is not enough irrigated, it will show brown stains.

Pruning: Cut the branches after principal blooming, at the beginning of the summer. It produces a second blooming very often and you will maintain her exuberant growth under control.

Reproduction: It can be reproduce by sheeds or by cuttings. The substrate needs to stay humid and with moderate temperatures until it have taking roots.

Interesting notes: The most prominent attribute is her fragrance. As the Queen of the Night blossoms at night, it gives a nice smell filling the hottest nights of the summer.

The Queen of the Night blossoms only in the summer months and at the beginning of the spring.

The Queen of the Night is not a plant that needs lots of cares; it is advisable to add some extra nutrients. The most advised are the liquid fertilizers because they act faster than the solid fertilizers. A rich in iron fertilizer will help the plant to greening.

If you want the Queen of the Night blossoms in Winter, you could do it in the next conditions: a well lightened indoor place, without excessive temperature (between 59 and 77 ºF) and the suitable humidity. For example, one gallery, because this shrub, in mild temperature areas, does not lose its leaves and can stay green all the year. In this case, we must irrigate sometimes and fertilize with liquid fertilizer ones a month. With the indoor cultivation it is better to do the pruning at the beginning of autum.

All the plant parts are very toxic. In many countries it is considered an invasive plant.