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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 that has about 400 species of woody evergreen trees and shrubs mainly found in tropical Africa and Asia. It belongs to the family Verbenaceae.
These shrubs are cultivated for their terminal cymes or corymbs of showy, often fragrant flowers. The flowers have cylindrical tubes and protruding stamens. Cleodendrum Paniculatum (Pagoda flower) is an erect, evergreen shrub about two metres in height. The shrub bears ovate, five-lobed, dark green leaves that are 10 to15 cm long. The leaves have heart-shaped bases and the upper leaves are toothed.
Salver form, tubular and scarlet, flowers are produced in 30-cm long terminal panicles that taper upward to form a pyramid. The pyramidal shape admits sunlight to all parts of the flower. The stem is downy and angular in shape. The shrub flowers in summer.
The shrubs can be grown in loam-based compost to form a border along the garden. The shrubs should not be kept in dark corners of the garden as it needs adequate sunlight to grow well.
Adequate water and liquid fertilizer help the shrub grow well. The plant can be propagated through semi-ripe cuttings. A full-grown shrub grows up to two metres in height. The extract from the leaves, flower and stem is of medicinal value. The juice is applied as anti-inflammatory to relieve inflammation from insect bites.
Cleodendrum burigei (Glory flower) bears salver form, fragrant and dark pink flowers. The flowers have five spreading lobes borne in rounded, terminal panicles about 12-15 cm in length. Cleodendrum fragrans (Glory bower) has corymbs of different fragrance. The shrub bears pink, white or blue-tinted flowers.
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Madurai
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
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