This one was very distinctive - and I have never seen it. Dark green on top side of leaf, PURPLE on the underside. I was captivated.
But what is it?
Tropical Plant ID Needed, Part 3
Clerodendrum quadriloculare has leaves that shape that are green on top and purple underneath. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/51474/
Thank you so much ecrane3! I can't wait to get a canopy going so I can start finding these unusual understory plants.
Caution: That Clero is very invasive! And the root system is a marvel of the natural world!!!
I looked at the pictures people have posted in the Plant File for this plant, and it looks like this is a different cultivar. The leaves are almost a blackish green. The images in the plant file seem to show a plant with lighter green leaves, and the stems are spotted, while the stems on the one I saw in the Arboretum were not spotted, and had a bamboo-like structure, with divisions at each leaf node. Could it vary that much within its' species?
I'm not familiar enough with it to know for sure. Most of the pics in PF are from wetter more humid climates than California, so combining different climate with some natural variability in the species could explain the differences you're seeing at least in leaf coloration and stem spotting.
IF it IS that Clero, it will have that certain smell that the family gets when leaves are torn.....the leaves are also very rough.
Thanks ecrane3 and AlohaHoya - I didn't notice any smell, but then I wouldn't want to be tearing leaves in the Arboretum! They might slap my hand. :)
This does not look like a Clerodendrum to me. Perhaps an Aphelandra!
Still no definitive ID
So.. where was this plant when you got it's picture.. it looks like it was buried underneath somewhere .. and not getting the light it needed..
It looks alot like a quadriloculare to be sure.. down to the little saw like edging on the leaves.. which mine has as a small leaf.. and looses much of it as the leaf matures..
the green on mine.. in it's older leaves is quite a dark green.. darker than anything else.. growing here that's not black .
Yes.. it is hardy. and strong to do so well with what it puts up with here.. for so many many years.. maybe 18.. while we've both become aware of each of our desires and ability..
I work at Fairchild and need to check a couple plants in our rainforest. I know that we have the same species that you have posted. It is not a Clerodendrum. C. quadriloculare has much thicker leaves that are held in a different manner. I will check the plants in our R.F. when I am at work tomorrow. I think it is an Aphelandra.
Might be a type of strobilanthes. Not dyerianus. Looks more like penstemonoides, but the underside color is not right. Don't know what cultivar, but might consider this. Doesn't look like clerodendrum quadriloculare. Not right for an aphelandra either.
Anna
Someone asked about more information. This was growing in the Los Angeles County Arboretum, in the tropical rainforest collection, under a light canopy of palms and tall evergreens. It was a multi-stemmed plant to about 6-7 ft tall in places. The soil is consistently wet here, as it is rather boggy near the pond area. This plant formed a thicket about ten feet wide by twenty feet long, so it seems to be something that can spread. The zone for the Arboretum is 20-21 (borderline), USDA 9a or 9b..
I hope this helps. I would sure like to get some of this for my shady areas!
Jungleman, why don't you post the pic in the plant identification forum? You might get a wider audience. You never know who might recognize it.
ANNA isCORRECT
OK.. well it doesn't seem to be a clearodendrum... after all.. I wrote to a few folks at the aboretum there at the LA County facility... thetour guide and a few consultants.. and a few others... I got a reply from one of them today.. I can't remember his job... but he's listed in the e-mail listing for some of the employees there.. I wrote to most everyone that wasn't admin or accounting.. this is his reply
I believe this plant is Strobilanthes, but I am not sure which species it is. The name does not appear in our inventory. It is in the Acanthaceae, or acanthus family.
Jim Henrich
there it is.. I figured if I wrote to lots of them .. some one would want to field it... it took 3 hours to get his difinative guess...
more than that I can't say... but I guess not knowing the family.. I'd have to agree with him..
Gordon
This message was edited Feb 11, 2009 12:05 AM
OK..I checked the site again... Jim is the senior biologist there at the LACounty Arboretum
http://www.arboretum.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=databasefeature&databaseurl=db_staff&stafffuseaction=stafflist&catagory=staff&CFID=1891168&CFTOKEN=12530905
so... I didn't ask the possibility of getting 20 cuttings from it for us all... but it's not out of the question I'd guess... if we could put together a pile of identified items for trade... I put together a nice pile of brugmansias for one of the botanical gardens here.. got a lovely letter spelling out my contribution..[ guess it's up to me to assign a value to them.. for a deduction ] and invited the directors by . they are always interested to see things they don't have.. or perhaps have never seen... they too are colllectors after all... like an addict with a job in a pharmacy... now as I wander through.. I have carte blanche cutting.. pruning privlidges. . like being in a candy store for me... yummy...
OH.. I wrote and thanked him.. and asked if it was ever part of a garden sale there... something from the gift shop... and offered to take a dozen... cuttings or plants... anr offered him a trade if there wassomething he was loking to findfor his place there... I figured someone might have a bit of it for him
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I did post in in the plant ID location as well - if I remember correctly.