''Clerodendrum tomentosum'', known as the downy chance, hairy lolly bush, hairy clairy or hairy clerodendrum is a shrub or small tree occurring in eastern and northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Distributed from Batemans Bay (35° S) in southern coastal New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia, and New Guinea. The habitat is the margins of warmer rainforests of various types. It can survive in certain areas of under 1000 mm average annual rainfall.

Name and taxonomy

The curious common name of "downy chance" alludes to both the generic and species names. The generic name '' Clerodendrum'' was coined by the father of modern taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus. Clerodendrum is from the Greek, literally meaning "allotment tree" ("clero" being allotment and "dendros", tree) while "tomentosum" refers to downy or hairy leaves. Recent phylogenetic studiesCantino, P.D., Harley, R.M. & Wagstaff, S.J. 1992. Genera of Labiatae: status and classification. Pp. 511-522. In Harley, R.M. & Reynolds, T. (eds) ''Advances in Labiate Science.'' Richmond, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. have shown that the genus ''Clerodendrum'' belongs in the mint family. Consequently, this species has been removed from the

verbena ''Verbena'' (), also known as vervain or verveine, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 150 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the Americas a ...

family and placed in Lamiaceae.

Description

Up to 15 metres tall with a trunk diameter of 25 cm, though usually much smaller. An opened branched plant with large veiny leaves. The trunk is mostly cylindrical or sometimes flanged at the base. Bark is grey or fawn, somewhat scaly or corky on larger plants. Young branchlets have

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...

s, and are downy and soft. Angled or square in cross section, brownish grey and sometimes purple at the tips.

Leaves

Opposite on the stem, without serrations, 4 to 14 cm long, 2 to 4.5 cm wide. With a short tip, leaf form gradually tapering away at the base of the leaf. Upper leaf surface sometimes hairy. Hairy under the leaf, soft and downy to touch. Pale green below the leaf, darker above. Leaf veins prominent on the underside, visible on the top surface. 5 or 6 main lateral veins, curving near the leaf edge.

Flowers and fruit

White flowers form in dense heads between the months of October to January. In the form of cymes forming terminal corymbs. Four long stamens protrude from the fragrant flower. The fruit is a black shiny or navy blue

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

with four lobes. Surrounded by a fleshy red

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

. The red and black of the fruiting body attracts birds, such as the satin bowerbird. Drupe size is 5 to 8 mm, the width of the red calyx is up to 20 mm. Flowers are pollinated by nocturnal moths. The fruit is not edible for humans. Slow to regenerate from seed, though it can strike from cuttings.

Uses

The attractive flowers and fruit make this suitable to native gardens in Australia. A bird and butterfly attracting plant. A pioneer species in regeneration areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q547330 Ornamental trees Flora of New Guinea Flora of Queensland tomentosum Trees of Australia Plants described in 1805 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)