THE VERBENA FAMILY 113 



becomes available for them again in spring, so tbey take on their 

 green and rich foliage in summer and become hygrophilous. 



4. The' Flowers of the Teak tree are small, but clustered in 

 large, white panicles overtopping the green foliage, and thus 

 making the tree conspicuous at the time of flowering (compare 

 Mango, page 27). They are white and star-like, the corolla 

 having five or six equal lobes. The number of the stamens is 

 the same as that of the corolla-lobes. The style is single and 

 has. a two-cleft stigma. 



5. The Ovary is four-celled and grows, under the protection 

 of the inflated calyx, into a very hard, bony nut covered with a 

 fur-like coat of branched hairs. 



Other Verbenas. 



One of the commonest Verbenas is the Lantana {Lantana 

 aculeata; Kan. Katagida; Mai. Arippu), a straggling shrub with 

 square, prickly stems and pretty orange flowers arranged in 

 small heads. Birds eat the fruit and spread the seed widely. It is a 

 native of America, but has run wild nearly everywhere in India, 

 and is a perfect curse to planters by the way in which it spreads 

 in all directions destroying other growth. It is often used as a 

 hedge plant. The pink or white Lantana is L. indica. It has 

 few or no prickles. 



The Chaste Tree {Y Hex negundo ; Kan. Lakki; Mai. Indrani; 

 San. Nirgundi) is a tall shrub with gray foliage, covered with 

 silvery down on the lower side and bearing small, lilac flowers 

 in panicles. The aroma noticed in the leaves of the Labiatse 

 (page 107) is found also in this plant. 



Stachytarpheta indica has long spikes of blue flowers. 



Premna integrifolia is a strong-smelling shrub with shining, 

 ovate leaves and greenest white flowers in large panicles. 



Another very common genus of this order is the Clerodendron 

 of which some species have a remarkable contrivance to exclude 

 self-pollination. 



To study this we may examine either Clerodendron volubile, 

 a common garden-creeper with a white, inflated calyx and a 



