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''Cestrum'' is a genus of - depending on authority - 150-250 species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae. They are native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas, from the southernmost United States (Florida, Texas: day-blooming cestrum, ''C. diurnum'') south to the Bío-Bío Region in central Chile (green cestrum, ''C. parqui''). They are colloquially known as cestrums or jessamines (from "jasmine", due to their fragant flowers). They are shrubs growing to tall. Most are evergreen; a few are deciduous. All parts of the plants are toxic, causing severe gastroenteritis if eaten. ==Uses and ecology== Several species are grown as ornamental plants for their strongly scented flowers. Some are invasive species. Especially notorious is green cestrum (''C. parqui'') in Australia, where it can cause serious losses to livestock which eat the leaves (particularly of drying broken branches) unaware of their toxicity.〔North West Weeds (2003): (Green cestrum ). Version of 2003-APR-15. Retrieved 2007-NOV-14.〕 ''C. laevigatum'' is employed by ''wajacas'' (shamans) of the Craós (Krahós, Krahô) tribe in Brazil. It is used "to see far", i.e. to aid in divination. Like the other hallucinogenic plants consumed by them, Craós ''wajacas'' consider it a potent entheogen, not to be taken by the uninitiated. ''Cestrum'' species are used as food by the caterpillars of several Lepidoptera species. These include the glasswing (''Greta oto''), the Antillean clearwing (''Greta diaphanus'') and ''Manduca afflicta'', which possibly feeds only on day-blooming cestrum. It is either known or suspected that such Lepidoptera are able to sequester the toxins from the plant, making them noxious to many predators. ''Cestrum'' species are reported as piscicidal.〔Jawale C. S., DamaL. B., Pawar Kishor, Dama S.B. and Shaikh Yasmeen (2012). (''Cestrum nocturnum'' (L) A Prospective Piscicide for Control of Predatory Fish ''Channa punctatus ''(Bloch.). TrendsFisheries Res. 1(1): 14-17. ) 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cestrum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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