SOLVED: Clerodendrum species I.D.

This Clerodendrum is being sold at Wal-Mart, pruned into a standard shape and labeled only as "Clerodendrum std (standard)." I've pored over photos of Clerodendrums, but with over 600 species (from what I've read), I haven't come across anything similar.

The leaves are about 3 inches long, 1/2 inch wide, tapered as you see, with a purple tint on the underside of the leaf.

Thanks for any help you can provide. I was able to propagate the plant from broken stem pieces I found on the floor.

Jeremy

it looks more like Pseuderanthemum laxiflorum 'Shooting Stars'.

i tried to find a picture but all the flowers shown in pf are solid purple. i had this one years ago with the same color flower as yours and it was sold to me as 'Shooting Stars'.

This message was edited Aug 27, 2008 2:48 PM

found this on google. after all this though, i'm probably wrong! lol http://www.nparks.gov.sg/nursery/uploadfiles/pseuderanthemumbicolor02flo.jpg

This message was edited Aug 27, 2008 2:51 PM

I don't think so, tracks. I have P. laxiflorum 'Shooting Stars' and this is a different plant. The flowers don't have the long "throats" of the shooting star type plants. I'm fairly certain the Clerodendrum part of the labeling was correct. The leaves with the purple underside resemble Clerodendrum quadriloculare (which I'm also growing), but the leaves of this plant are more glossy and smaller.

Jeremy

hmmm, i thought at one time or another i had all or most of the Clerodendrums but this one isn't ringing a bell with me.

I also have most of the Clerodendrum species commonly available in Florida, but this one seems to be a new introduction.

Jeremy

Doesn't especially look like a Clerodendrum to me--Pseuderanthemum was my first thought as well. There are a couple others besides the one that trackinsand mentioned which have that color flowers. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=pseuderanthemum&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&searcher%5Bgrex%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

I agree with Track and Ecrane, that's not a Clerodendrum, but a Pseuderanthemum of some sort.

Jeremy can you post pictures of the leaves so maybe we can help you figure it out?

In the meantime take a look at Pseuderanthemum bicolor
http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/family/yahoo/acanthaceae.htm
towards the bottom of the page.
Also this picture from australia
http://www.nparks.gov.sg/nursery/uploadfiles/pseuderanthemumbicolor02flo.jpg

It certainly does look like the picture from Australia. It wouldn't be the first time a big box store mislabeled a plant, that's for certain.

I'll try to get a photo of the leaves tomorrow. If the plant from Australia has a purple back to the leaves, I would say definitely that is it.

Jeremy

It does look like the Aussie one so maybe mislabeled. Very pretty though, mmm will be checking out wal mart cleros this weekend!!.

the aussie site posted by jnana is the same one i posted prior. i found it by googling P. 'shooting stars'. google isn't always right of course, but it seems like that particular site would be right.

jeremy, i'm going to guess and say that mine did have purple backs but it's been almost 5 years since i had that plant, so i may be wrong on that one. "the mind" you know! lol

Here are some photos of the leaves, as requested. I also compared the leaves of the Wal-Mart "Clerodendrum" with leaves from my Pseuderanthemum. (1st photo, P. laxiflorum leaves on the left, Wal-Mart plant on the right)

I pored over hundreds of photos online last night, trying to find a Clerodendrum that matched up with the plant from Wal-Mart. Some came close -- one with a purplish throat, but I lost track of the photo. This photo of a young sucker from C. quadricolare seems very similar to the plant from Wal-Mart, but the flowers are very different from C. quadricolare. (scroll down to the middle photo in the document).

http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu/News%20columns/Shooting%20Star.htm

In comparing the leaves to Pseuderanthemum, the plant from Wal-Mart has fleshier leaves, and has the very distinctive maroon underside of the leaves with a very distinctive midrib yellow stripe. My Pseuderanthemum laxiflorum has some light purplish mottling on the underside of the leaf. The plant from Wal-Mart also has narrow, more lanceolate leaves with a fairly stiff fold. Pseuderanthemum leaves are relatively thin and limp. I'm also not sure that Pseuderanthemum flower clusters form the somewhat pyramidal-shaped terminal flower cluster as does the Wal-Mart plant.

I can only come up with three photos of Pseuderanthemum bicolor on the Internet, and all three are completely different from one another/

The photo referenced above from the Australian webpage:
http://www.nparks.gov.sg/nursery/uploadfiles/pseuderanthemumbicolor02flo.jpg

This one from a natural healing website (scroll down to the middle of the page)
http://www.naturalmedicine.randyamy.com/

And this one from a non-translatable website that shows something more like a Lady's Slipper:
http://albinopri.cool.ne.jp/leaf/database.cgi?equal3=Pseuderanthemum&equal4=bicolor&tid=list3

Will the real P. bicolor PLEASE stand up?! LOL

From what I can see in photos of other Pseuderanthemum species, the petals seem to be arranged more in a 2 on top, 3 on the bottom spread rather than the circular arrangement of petals in the Wal-Mart plant.

So, I am still uncertain as to the I.D.

Jeremy

Underside of the leaves of the Wal-Mart plant.

Jeremy

My proudly rooted cuttings of the Wal-Mart plant from floor droppings of broken branch tips.

Jeremy

A single flower on a terminal cluster from the Wal-Mart plant.

Jeremy

Jeremy, I think it may be this one. At least it looks almost identical to yours. Pseuderanthemum seticalyx
http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi
I also found it as Ruspolia seticalyx.
Very little out there on this plant.

You may want to contact Top Tropicals to see if they have more information about this plant.

That looks like it exactly, jnana! Thanks. I can sleep again and not have to spend another night rummaging through Clerodendrum photos on the Internet! LOL ( but I am serious!)

Well, I'll be satisfied that my pilfered floor droppings from Wal-Mart are perhaps not the world's rarest Clerodendrum, but an interesting Pseuderanthemum seticalyx. I may have to go out to Wal-Mart with a black marker and change the name on all the mislabeled plants so that no other compulsive plant collectors have to go through the torment I have endured since bringing the pruned pieces home.

I really appreciate all the help and suggestions from everyone. I would, though, like to know for sure what a Pseuderanthemum bicolor looks like. Does anyone have access to Horticopia or some other authoritative reference?

Jeremy

edited to add: the link jnana provided goes to the "A" plants, but I found the P. seticalyx by the website search. See if this link takes you to the "P" plants. http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi

Nope, you have to type in "Pseuderanthemum" in the search bar at the top of the website page.

This message was edited Aug 28, 2008 9:13 PM

This message was edited Aug 28, 2008 9:15 PM

i KNEW jnana could do it! lol yay, now i can sleep too.

Hello, I was just searching the net for this plant also and came across this forum. I work in the garden dept. at Home Depot and we received this plant from a new vendor this week. They also had it listed on the pot as a clerodendrum std, but no other info. They probably provided the ones to Walmart too. Thanks to everyone for solving this mystery and saving me from a night of searching!

gardengal, I'm very glad this thread helped you I.D. the plant, and many thanks to you for being conscientious about selling plants with correct names. Please give your vendor at least a verbal thrashing for the misidentification! It resulted, I'm sure, in many cases of PAIDS (Plant Anxiety IDentification Syndrome). LOL

Jeremy

Jeremy,
I intend to when he brings more on Friday!!

I may have to drive to Largo to participate in that thrashing, after the sleepless hours I spent combing the Internet for a Clerodendrum that matched the Pseuderanthemum flowers. LOL

Jeremy

I think it is P. selicalyx, also called Shooting Star. green on top, purplish underneath leaves, with same flowers you post. Does resemble coloration of Clerodendrum.

[quote="trackinsand"]it looks more like Pseuderanthemum laxiflorum 'Shooting Stars'.


It is definitely Pseuderanthemum laxiflorum, as trackinsand has written above.