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Scent of a flower
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Border your garden with a row of the fragrant Pagoda flower
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THE CLEODENDRUM is a genus of about 400 species of woody evergreen trees and shrubs mainly found in tropical Africa and Asia. It belongs to the family Verbenaceae. They are cultivated for their terminal cymes or corymbs of showy, often fragrant flowers with cylindrical tubes and protruding stamens. These shrubs are more suitable for warm borders.
Cleodendrum Paniculatum (Pagoda flower) is a erect, open, evergreen shrub about two metre high, bears ovate five-lobed deep green leaves 10-15 cm long, with heart-shaped bases. The upper leaves are toothed. Salver form, tubular, scarlet, fragrant flowers are produced in 30-cms long terminal panicles that taperupward to a pyramid to admit sunlight to all parts of the flower. The stem is downy and angular. Flowers are produced in summer.
Typically, grown in a border or large tube of loam-based compost in full light with shade from hot sun, and good ventilation in summer. Water fairly and apply a liquid fertilizer monthly. The plant propagates by semi-ripe cuttings, and a full-grown shrub grows up to two metres in height.
Extract from the leaves, flower and stem is of medicinal value. The juice is applied topically as anti-inflammatory to relieve insect bites.
Cleodendrum burigei (Glory flower) bears salver form, very fragrant, dark pink flower each with five spreading lobes borne in rounded, terminal panicles 12-15 cms across in late summer. Cleodendrum fragrans (glory bower) has corymbs of many fragrant double pink, white or blue-tinted flowers.
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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