Hymenosporum flavum sweetshade

Sweetshade in full fragrant bloom behind 557 Mayfield Avenue. Sairus Patel, 28 May 2023

Enchanting creamy star-shaped flowers with a tropical air announce in May and June that something different is going on here. Larger than those of star jasmine, and suggestive too of frangipani (Plumeria) blossoms – hence another common name, Australian frangipani – they look as though they ought to be fragrant, and often are, especially in the evening. They open white but quickly turn to gold – flavum means yellow – then age to a rich mango, several stages coexisting to wondrous effect on the deep green crown. The glossy evergreen leaves on this rather gangly tree are slightly broader toward the tips. Hard seed capsules split open to reveal tightly packed papery-winged seeds that distinguish it from its close relatives in Pittosporum – Hymeno-sporum means membrane-seed.

Stanford’s oldest and largest specimen grows unappreciated among utility bins at the northeast corner of 557 Mayfield Avenue. Five trees line the ramp in the parking lot on the west side of 366 Galvez Street, down from 10 planted in 2012. Several have been planted in backyards in the south part of University Terrace. A few young ones are scattered along Campus Drive near the southeast corner of Castaño.

Examples reported in 1983 in Wilbur Hall courtyards, useful for comparison with pittosporum relatives, were removed not long after. Two planted at the then-new Humanities Center in 2002 did not survive their first year.