Description
This is an evergreen to deciduous small tree/shrub depending on the environment. Ours in our cold garden are deciduous. It is not fussy requiring full sun, shade or semi-shade. It produces blue to purple flowers in Spring and Summer, which are very beautiful. The edible fruit is eaten by birds and monkeys. It is a lovely, shrubby tree for an informal border and is also an ideal plant for containers as it can be pruned to any shape of choice. It attracts birds and butterflies. It is used medicinally as the powdered bark is used to treat snake bite, sterility, impotence, body swellings, chest pains, colds, bleeding gums, indigestion and headaches. it is thought to be anti microbial. The dark purple variety is called Clerodendrum ugandens. The name is derived from the Greek ‘kleros’ meaning chance or fate and ‘dendron’ meaning tree. According to legend these trees possessed medicinal properties and one took a chance on them as it varied in several species.