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Mandevilla sanderi, the Brazilian jasmine, is a vine belonging to the genus Mandevilla. Grown as an ornamental plant, the species is endemic to the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It is a rapidly growing, creeping, perennial plant, pruning shoots about 60 cm per year.
Despite its common name, the species is not a "true jasmine" and not of the genus Jasminum.
Mandevilla sanderi is a shrub with a naturally bushy habit, 2–3 meters high, or 4.5 meters (15 feet) if the climate is warm. It is able to develop long, woody stems based on lignin and climbs by twining around some support. This twining growth is characterized by long internodes, small leaves and a stem rarely carrying flowers. The plant contains a white latex, which is viscous, toxic, and can be irritating. In addition to fine roots, it has large tuberous roots that contain starch and a reserve of water, allowing it to withstand drought. The evergreen, petiolate, thick, leathery, dark green leaves are opposite, and grow to 6 cm (2.5 in) long. The blade is ovate-elliptical, 5–6 cm long, with a glossy upper surface and a thick epidermis. The apex is shortly acuminate.
The inflorescences are simple racemes, usually terminal (sometimes axillary) that gather at a given moment, 3–4 pimples and a large blooming pink-red flower, 4–7 cm in diameter. Each flower has a chalice in cup with five teeth lanceolate-subulate scarious, a large corolla infundibular pink (funnel-shaped) formed of a cylindrical tube of 4–5 mm in diameter, which widens abruptly in a tube 15–18 × 25–30 mm, terminated by 5 oval lobes, acuminate, spreading, partially overlapping. The five stamens include threads inserted into the tube and connective anthers, forming a ring around the head. The long flowering period extends from spring to autumn. The flowers grow gradually from early summer to late winter, growing 2–3 on stalks in the leaf corners.
The fruit is dry, capsular, formed of two long follicles, and opens lengthwise like a silique.
