 |
| Clerodendrum chinense bloom. |
Located in a patch of ground on the west side of the tropical
greenhouse, the weedy looking green shoots of the Clerodendrum chinense pop up over an area of about 100 or so square
feet. A native of China, this interesting plant has the nickname there of “Stink
Jasmine”. Smelling the white, capitate clusters of blooms you are immediately impressed
with their pleasant jasmine-like scent that somewhat borders on that of
Gardenias. Why the “Stink Jasmine” moniker for this un-mint-like member of the
mint (formerly the verbena) family?
 |
| Clerodendrum chinense plant |
The answer to this riddle is quickly obtained with one ‘scratch
and sniff’ of its leaves: they smell like rancid peanut butter. This same smell
can be noticed on the Tree of Heaven (Ailianthus
altissima) with which Clerodendrum
chinense shares the first part of their common names in Chinese ( 臭茉莉 (Chòu mò lì ) meaning
Stink Jasmine and 臭椿(Chòu Chun) meaning Stink Tree -臭 being the symbol
for ‘stink’ in Chinese). This specimen was first obtained from San Marcos
Growers in 1994 under its old name Clerondendrun
phillipinum.
No comments:
Post a Comment