A flora of Manila - Rainforestation

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A FLORA OF MANILA
Species 50 or more in tropical Africa, Asia, and Malaya, 7 or more in
the Philippines.
1. Flowers minute, less than 5 mm long; a very aromatic plant, green
throughout, cultivated only 1. C. amboinicus
1. Flowers about 1 cm long; plants slightly aromatic or nearly odorless,
variously colored.
2. Leaves 5 to 10 cm long, variously and prominently colored; cultivated
only 2. C. blumei
2. Leaves 1.5 to 3.5 cm long, slightly colored or nearly green.
3. C. pumilus
*1. C. AMBOINICUS Lour. (C aromaticus Benth., C. suganda Blanco). Suganda
(Tag.) ; Oregano (Sp.-Fil.)
An erect or spreading, branched, rather coarse, strongly aromatic herb,
green, the stems fleshy. Leaves broadly ovate, crenate, fleshy, rounded or
obtuse, base decurrent, often cordate, 4 to 9 cm long, somewhat villous.
Flowers small, in distant, many-flowered whorls. Calyx-throat glabrous
inside, the upper lip ovate, acute, thin, the lower acuminate. Corolla
pale-purplish, with a short tube, the throat inflated, the lips short.
Occasionally cultivated for its very aromatic leaves, very rarely flowering;
occasional in cultivation in the Philippines, introduced, origin un-
certain. Cultivated, India to Malaya, and in various other tropical countries.
* 2. C. BLUMEI Benth. Mayana, Maliana (Tag., Vis., Pamp.).
An erect, branched, somewhat succulent, annual herb 1 m high or less,
the leaves variously colored, usually more or less pubescent. Stems usually
purplish, 4-angled. Leaves ovate, rather coarsely toothed, 5 to 10 cm long,
in the most common form uniformly velvety-purple. Inflorescence terminal,
simple or branched, 15 to 30 cm long. Flowers purplish, numerous, in lax
verticils of cymes or racemes, the pedicels about 4 mm long. Calyx green,
about 2.5 mm long, the upper lip ovate, obtuse, the lateral lobes short,
ovate, the lower one 2-cleft. Corolla about 11 mm long. (Fl. Filip. pi. 208.)
Frequently cultivated, fl. Nov.-Mar. Generally cultivated in the Philippines
for its ornamental foliage, but certainly introduced. India and
Malaya, often only cultivated, and in cultivation in most warm countries.
3. C. pumilus Blanco (C. gaudichaudii Briq.).
A lax, erect or spreading, simple or somewhat branched herb 30 to 90 cm
in length, the stems square, green, fleshy, usually decumbent below and
rooting at the nodes. Leaves ovate to broadly ovate, 1.5 to 3.5 cm long,
with scattered, long, weak hairs, acute or obtuse, base truncate, acute, or
decurrent, margins coarsely dentate. Inflorescence a narrow terminal
panicle, 8 to 20 cm long, rather lax, few or many flowers in each verticil.
Flowers blue-purple, about 1 cm long, slightly glandular and hairy.
In thickets, Masambong, near Fort McKinley, etc., rarely also cultivated,
fl. Nov.-Jan. Known only from Manila and vicinity.
6. POGOSTEMON Desfontaines
Erect, branched, mostly aromatic herbs or undershrubs. Leaves opposite,
petioled, large. Flowers small, in axillary and terminal, simple or panicled
spikes or contracted racemes, formed of many densely flowered cymes or
whorls. Calyx nearly equally 4- or 5-toothed. Corolla-tube exserted or
included, the limb somewhat 2-lipped, the lobes 4. Stamens 4, exserted.