Martha's exotic Backyard in Israel
Adenium obesum, Adenium arabicum, Adenium arboreum, Adenium coetaneum,
Adenium honghel, Nerium obesum,
Desert-rose, Impala-lily, Mock azalea,
Hebrew: אדונית המדבר, ורד המדבר, Arabic: نبتة العدنة

Scientific name:		Adenium obesum (Forssk.) Roem. & Schult.
Synonym name:		Adenium arabicum Balf.f., Adenium arboreum Ehrenb., Adenium coetaneum Stapf, Adenium honghel Lindl., Nerium obesum Forssk.
Common name:		Desert-rose, Impala-lily, Mock azalea
Hebrew name:		אדונית המדבר, ורד המדבר
Arabic name:		نبتة العدنة
Family:		Apocynaceae, Dogbane family, הרדופיים

Life form:		Succulent, deciduous shrub or small tree; up to 4 metres tall, sometimes with a fleshy taproot.
Stems:		Swollen at base up to 1 (-2) m in diameter; bark pale geyish-green, grey, brown, smooth with sticky, clear or white latex; branchlets glabrescent, pubescent at apex
Leaves:		spirally arranged, clustered toward the tips of the shoots, simple entire, leathery in texture, 5–15 cm (2.0–5.9 in) long and 1–8 cm (0.39–3.15 in) broad
Inflorescence:		a more or less terminal cyme
Flowers:		Tubular, 2–5 cm (0.79–1.97 in) long, with the outer portion 4–6 cm (1.6–2.4 in) diameter with five petals, resembling those of other related genera such as Plumeria and Nerium. The flowers tend to red and pink, often with a whitish blush outward of the throat.
Fruits / pods:		Follicle, dehiscent dry fruit
Flowering Period:		May, June, July, August, September
Habitat:		Dry bushland, semi-desert scrub, dry woodland and wooded grassland
Distribution:		Cultivated as an ornamental plant.
Chorotype:		Eastern Africa to Southern Arabia
Summer shedding:		Perennating

Derivation of the botanical name: Adenium, Latinized Arabic name Aden; the first species was collected in Yemen, at Jebel Melhan. obesum, Latin, fat, stout, plump. coetaneum , "having the same age as another, beginning to exist at the same time," c. 1600, from Late Latin coaetanus "one of the same age." honghel, was found to contain cardiac glycosides: Honghelin, Hongheloside A & C, Digitalinium, Verum. Nerium, Oleander. Rose bay. The classical Greek name. The standard author abbreviation Forssk. is used to indicate Peter Forsskål (1732 – 1763), a Swedish explorer, orientalist and naturalist. The standard author abbreviation Roem. is used to indicate Johann Jacob Roemer (1763 – 1819), a physician and professor of botany in Zurich, Switzerland. He was also an entomologist. The standard author abbreviation Schult. is used to indicate Josef (Joseph) August Schultes (1773 – 1831), an Austrian botanist and professor from Vienna. The standard author abbreviation A.DC. is used to indicate Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyrame de Candolle (1806 – 1893), a French-Swiss botanist, the son of the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. With a poisenous sap in the leaves and branches, sensitive to over watering and frost when grown in gardens.