Rogiera amoena Planch.

amoena: beautiful, showy, pleasing

Shrub or small tree. Leaves ovate, to 15 cm long, densely pubescent beneath. Stipules large, triangular, usually reflexed. Flowers in dense terminal and axillary panicles. Corolla pink, with yellow hairs at throat.

Native to southern Mexico and Panama.

Rondeletia langlassei Standley, sp. nov
Tree, 3-4 meters high, the branches stout, terete, reddish-brown, lenticellate, appressedpilose with fulvous hairs when young; stipules triangular-oblong, 5-9 mm. long, obtuse, foliaceous, reflexed, strigose-sericeous ; leaves opposite, the petioles stout, 2-3 mm. long, fulvouspilose, the blades lance-elliptic or narrowly ovate-oblong, 9-12.5 cm. long, 2-4 cm. wide, obtuse or acute at the base, acute to attenuate at the apex, thin, deep-green above and thinly appressed-pilose, pale beneath and densely short-pilose with fulvous hairs, strigose along the veins, the costa slender, prominent, the lateral veins slender, about 8 on each side, subarcuate, ascending at an angle of 45°, the secondary veins obscure; inflorescence terminal, cymosecorymbose, hemispheric, 10 cm. broad, the peduncle 5.5 cm. long, the cymes rather laxly manyflowered, the flowers short-pedicellate; bracts large, foliaceous, the bractlets minute; hypanthium subglobose, densely pilose with short fulvous appressed hairs; calyx-lobes 5, oblong, obtuse, 1 mm. long, erect; corolla pink, strigillose outside, the tube slender, 15 mm. long, densely yellow-pilose in the throat, the 5 lobes oblong to oval-obovate , 2.5-5 mm. long, spreading, puberulent within.
Type collected in the Sierra Madre of Michoacan or Guerrero, altitude 1750 meters, January 26, 1899, E. Langlasse 797 (U. S. Nat. Herb. no. 386194).

Rondeletia amoena (Planch.) Hemsl. Diag. PI. Nov. 26. 1879
Rogiera amoena Planch. Fl. Serres 5: 442. 1849. Rogiera Menechma Planch. Fl. Serres 5: 442. 1849. Rondeletia versicolor J. Smith, Bot. Mag. pi. 4579. 1851. Rogiera versicolor Lindl. & Paxt. Fl. Gard. 2: 69. 1851. Rondeletia latifolia Oerst. Vidensk. Meddel. 1852: 43. 1852. Rondeletia rugosa Benth.; Oerst Vidensk. Meddel. 1852: 43. 1852. Rogiera latifolia Decaisne, Rev. Hortic. IV. 2: 121. 1853. ?Rondeletia Schumanniana K. Krause, Bot. Jahrb. 40: 315. 1908.
Shrub or small tree, the branches stout, terete or subangulate, reddish-brown or grayish, densely villous-pilose when young with fulvous hairs; stipules triangular-oblong, 10-16 mm. long, obtuse, densely appressed-pilose, reflexed, foliaceous; leaves opposite, the petioles very stout, 2-10 mm. long, densely pilose, the blades ovate-oval, oval, or oblong-ovate, 6-15 cm. long, 3.5-10 cm. wide, rounded or subcordate at the base, usually abruptly short-acuminate at the apex, coriaceous, bright-green, glabrous or thinly pilose above, densely short-pilose beneath with fulvous hairs, the costa stout, prominent, the lateral veins slender or stout, prominent, 5-9 on each side, subarcuate, ascending at an angle of 45° or more, the secondary veins often prominently reticulate, the blades often rugose; inflorescence terminal and axillary, cymose-corymbose, 5-18 cm. broad, stout-pedunculate, the cymes often numerous, densely many-flowered, the flowers sessile or short-pedicellate; bracts often large and foliaceous, the bractlets minute; hypanthium densely fulvous-pilose; calyx-lobes 5, unequal, oblong or obovate-oblong, 1-2 mm. long, obtuse, erect or spreading; corolla pink or pinkish, densely appressed-pilose outside with fulvous hairs, the tube stout, 8-12 mm. long, densely yellow-pilose in the throat, the 5 lobes rounded, 2-2.5 mm. long, spreading, puberulent within; style exserted or included; anthers included; capsule globose, 5-6 mm. in diameter, densely pilose; seeds compressed, angulate.
Typf. locality: Described from cultivated plants of Guatemalan origin Distribution: Chiapas to Panama.

Rogiera amoena (syn. Rondeletia amoena) is a shrub or small tree in the family Rubiaceae, sometimes grown as an ornamental plant. Common names include rondeletia and yellowthroat rondeletia. The species is native to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.

French botanist Jules Émile Planchon described Rogiera amoena in 1849. It is the type species of the genus Rogiera. It was transferred to the genus Rondeletia in 1879 by William Hemsley in 1879.

The spring flowers of Rogiera amoena give it horticultural potential. It readily adapts to cultivation, growing in sun or part shade. Watering during dry periods is beneficial. It can be propagated by seed or semi-hardwood cuttings.