A flora of Manila - Rainforestation

VERBENACEAE 403
numerous, small but prominent glands. Panicles 25 cm long or less, terminal
and in the upper axils, the whole inflorescence bright-red. Flowers
odorless, slender, the corolla-tube about 1 cm long, the limb spreading,
somewhat oblique, subequally 5-lobed, 1.5 cm in diameter, the lobes oblong,
obtuse. Stamens deflexed or ultimately recurved, exsertcd about 2 cm, red
or purplish. Fruit depressed-globose, fleshy, blue, about 1 cm in diameter,
containing 3 or 4 seeds, the acci-escent calyx red, spreading or reflexed,
about 2 cm in diameter. (Fl. Filip. /;/. 17;i.)
In open waste places, often in rather wet soil, fl. July-Nov. ; common and
widely distributed in the Philippines. Endemic, but with very closely
allied and perhaps identical forms in Formosa and Celebes.
6. C. CALAMATOSUM L.
An erect, shrubby or suffrutescent plant 1 to 2 m high, sparingly pubescent.
Leaves elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 4 to 10 cm long, obtuse or
subacute, base acute, margins rather coarsely toothed. Flowers in fewflowei-ed
cymes, in the upper axils, fi-agrant, white. Calyx 5 to S mm
long, 5-cleft. Corolla slender, pubescent, about 3 cm long.
Occasionally cultivated for its fragrant flowers, fl. Oct.-Dec. A native
of Java, introduced in the Philippines, and at least subspontaneous in some
localities.
7. C. commersonii (Lam.) Spreng.
An erect or somewhat scandent
(C. neriifolium Wall.)
shrub 1 to 4 m high. Leaves ovate,
oblong-ovate, or elliptic-ovate, shining, glabrous, entii-e, obtuse, acute, or
slightly acuminate, 4 to 8 cm long, 2 to 5 cm wide. Peduncles axillary,
mostly 3-flowered. Calyx green, narrowly funnel-shaped, truncate, with
5 very short teeth. Corolla about 3 cm long, the tube slender, white, the
lobes spreading, about 7 mm long, tinged with purple. Stamens long-exserted,
purple. Fruit obovoid, about 1.5 cm long, splitting into 4 pyrenes,
the calyx in fruit about 1 cm in diameter. (Fl. Filip. pi. 22 Jf. C. inerme.)
In thickets along tidal streams subject to the influence of salt water, fl.
at intervals all the year; throughout the Philippines in similar habitats,
.southern China to Malaya, Australia, and Polynesia.
10. VITEX Linnaeus
Shrubs or trees, rarely prostrate, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves opposite,
digitately 3- or 5-foliolate, rarely simple. Inflorescence terminal
and axillary, composed of paniculately arranged cymes. Flowers blue or
yellow. Calyx short, campanulate, truncate or shortly 5-toothed. Corollatube
cylindric, the limb 2-lipped, the central lobe of the lower lip much
larger than the others. Stamens 4, in 2 pairs, exserted. Ovary 2- or 4-
celled, 4-ovuled. Fruit a small globose or obovoid drupe, the calyx somewhat
enlarged, persistent. (A name used by Pliny for one species, or
some similar shrub.)
Species about 60 in most tropical and warm countries, 10 or less in the
Philippines.
1. Trees; leaves 3-foliolate, the leaflets all stalked, glabrous.. 1. V. parviflora
1. Shrubs; leaves 1- to 5-foliolate, densely pubescent beneath.
2. Leaflets usually 5, rarely 3, petioled, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate.
2. V. negundo
2. Leaflets 3 or 1, sessile, very pale beneath, oblong-ovate to ovate or
obovate 3. V. trifolia
.