Brazil's white Angel Trumpet

Brugmansia are annual trees or shrubs (in our climate) with pendulous, not erect, flowers. Most have tan, slightly rough bark and produce spiny fruit. The leaves are generally large and alternate, some with toothy margins and covered with fine hairs. Their common name refers to the large, very dramatic trumpet-shaped flowers. Color ranges from white through yellow to pink and even orange or red. Most also boast an attractive scent with citrus overtones, most noticeable in early evening.

Brugmansia suaveolens is a semi-woody shrub or small tree, growing up to 3–5 m tall, often with a many-branched trunk. The leaves are oval, to 25 cm long by 15 cm wide, and even larger when grown in the shade. The flowers are remarkably beautiful and sweetly fragrant, about 24 – 32 cm long and shaped like trumpets. The corolla body is slightly recurved to 5 main points, but the very peaks in the true species are always curved outwards, never rolled back, and these peaks are short, only 1 – 2.5 cm (0.4–1.0 in) long. The flowers are usually white but may be yellow or pink and hang downward from fully pendulous up to nearly horizontal.