Clerodendrum buchananii Walpers 1845
Creators: name: Meerts, Pierre
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Lamiales
Lamiaceae
Clerodendrum
Clerodendrum buchananii

description: 3. Clerodendrum buchananii (Roxburgh 1832: 60) Walpers (1845: 108); Lam & Bakhuizen van den Brink (1921: 91); White (1962: 365); Moldenke (1985d: 283); Smith (1991: 211); Fernandes (2005: 93).
Type:— INDIA. 1797, Buchanan s. n. (holotype: K, not seen).
= Volkameria buchananii Roxb. (Roxburgh 1832: 60).
= Clerodendrum speciosissimum auct. non Morren (1836: 322, pl. 68); Lejoly et al. (2010: 295).
= Clerodendrum fallax sensu De Wild. (De Wildeman 1912a: 468; 1912b: 132) non Lindl. (1844: t. 19).
Shrub, 1.5–3 m, much branched. Stem quadrangular, shortly pubescent to tomentellous. Leaf: petiole 2–25 cm, reddish, pubescent; lamina broadly ovate, 6–18 × 5–18 cm, deeply cordate at base, acute to obtuse at apex, 4–7 veins on either side, upper surface pubescent, lower surface softly pubescent to tomentose, margin undulate-crenate. Inflorescence paniculiform to corymbiform, 13–19 × 11–15 cm, of axillary cymes grouped at shoot apex, with 5–11(–16) nodes, peduncle of the cymes 2–6 cm, reddish, shortly brownish pubescent, cymes 7–11- flowered, the lowermost one in the axil of a foliaceous bract, the other bracts obovate, ca. 5 × 1 mm. Flower: pedicel 4–10 mm, pubescent; calyx funnel-shaped, 2.5–3 mm long, puberulent and with sessile glands, lobes narrowly triangular, 1.5 mm long, often outwardly recurved at tip, reddish; corolla: tube 12–17 mm, papillate, lobes obovate, 9–12 mm long, papillate and with sessile glands on outer surface; stamens protruding 15–25 mm, anther ca. 3 mm long. Fruit 4-lobed, ca. 5 × 8 mm, blue-black, more or less wrinkled, subtended by the persistent cup-shaped calyx ca. 3 × 8 mm.
Distribution in Central Africa:—D.R. Congo, introduced.
Distribution elsewhere:—Islands of SE Asia and W Pacific; introduced for ornamental purposes in the tropics worldwide.
Habitat:—Cultivated for ornamental purposes, apparently not yet recorded as a garden escape in Central Africa.
Selection of representative specimens:— D.R. CONGO. Bas-Congo: Jardin agronomique de Kisantu, 27 September 1930, Vanderyst 25748 (BR!); Kasaï: Luluabourg [Kananga], s.d., Vanderyst 21298 (BR!). Forestier Central: Eala, November 1923, Goossens 4389 (BR!); Kisangani, jardin botanique de la Faculté des sciences, 8 July 1974, Lejoly 5441 (BR!), Yangambi, poste de Yaosuka, 30 May 1938, Louis 9578 (BR!). Haut-Katanga: Elisabethville [Lubumbashi], 1937, Salésiens 725 (BR!, WAG).
Note: — This species has generally been referred to as Clerodendrum speciosissimum. C. buchananii and C. speciossisimum are closely related species native to SE Asia, the former sometimes treated as a variety of the latter (C. buchananii var. fallax (Lindl.) Bakh.). See Moldenke (1985d) for a discussion of the relations between C. buchananii and C. speciosissimum. Fernandes (2005) was the first to point out that most if not all African specimens better correspond to C. buchananii, due to the short calyx (2.5–5 mm long, vs. 6–8 mm in C. speciosissimum) and the smaller corolla (lobes 7–12 mm long, vs. 12–17 mm in C. speciossissimum). Further investigation is needed to clarify the taxonomy of Asian red-flowered Clerodendrum introduced to Africa.
description: Published as part of Meerts, Pierre, 2023, The genus Clerodendrum (Lamiaceae) in the flora of Central Africa (D. R. Congo, Rwanda, Burundi), pp. 1-42 in Phytotaxa 594 (1) on page 6, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.594.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7864827