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Clerodendrum thomsonae
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Family:
VERBENACEAE
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Citation: Clerodendrum thomsonae Balf. f., Edinb. New Phil. Jour. (n.s.) 15: 233, t. 2. 1862; Babu, Fl. Malappuram Dist. 612. 1990; Rajendran & Daniel, Indian Verbenaceae 147. 2002; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 561. 2009.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Kadalapoovu, Bleeding-heart
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Bleeding heart, Glory bower
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Description:
High-climbing herbaceous or woody vine or liana, to 7 m long or more, rarely a low shrub 2-2.5 m tall; branchlets slender, greyish, obtusely tetragonal, glabrate; twigs slender, brown or purplish, densely puberulent; leafscars often large and circular, borne on prominent sterigmata about 1 mm long, corky; nodes not annulate; principal internodes 1.3-9 cm long; leaves decussate-opposite; petioles slender, 8-35 mm long, minutely puberulent with purplish hairs; leaf-blades thin-chartaceous or membranous, dark-green above, lighter beneath, often nigrescent in drying, elliptic or elliptic-ovate, 6-14.5 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, apically short-acuminate, marginally entire, basally rounded or subacute, glabrate on both surfaces or slightly pulverulent along the larger venation; inflorescence axillary, cymose, abundant near the apex of the twigs; cymes solitary, opposite, spreading, 5-9 cm long, 4-8.5 cm wide, loosely flowered; peduncles slender, 2.6-6.5 cm long, densely puberulent; pedicels very slender, 7-16 mm long, puberulent; large bracts none; bractlets and prophylla linear, 2-11 mm long, to 1 mm wide, or subulate, puberulent; calyx pale yellowish-green, changing to cream-colour and then pure white during anthesis, fading to yellow or pink, or the calyx reddish, more or less pentagonal during anthesis, 1.8-2 cm long, puberulent, deeply 4-fid to 4/5 th the length, the lobes broadly ovate, 8-10 mm wide, apically acute or short-acuminate; corolla hypocrateriform, varying from deep rose, dark red, deep red, or bright red to cardinal red, scarlet, or crimson, its tube very slender, about 2.5 cm long, the lobes of the limb wide-spreading or reflexed, 6-10 mm long, 3.5-4 mm wide; stamens long-exserted; fruiting- calyx faded rose-colour; fruit drupaceous, glossy-black externally, with a brilliant red aril uniting the 4 pyrenes.
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Habit:
Climber
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Flowering & Fruiting:
August-November
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District(s):
All Districts
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Grown in gardens
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Distribution:
Native of Tropical Africa
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
Red, Pink, White
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
Yes
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Garden:
Yes
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
Cherthala
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