This tree is a member of the Euphorbia family. It grows widely over the South Seas.
Hawaii has a wealth of flowering shrubs, most of them introduced from other tropical regions to augment the few which are native. These shrubs make up the larger portion of island gardens, since many of the annuals and perennials of the temperate zone do not grow well in a warm climate. Many of the shrubs have unusual flower forms and others create spectacular effects with masses of color.
PAGODA FLOWER _Clerodendron squamatum Vahl_
Brilliant scarlet flowers, in large, loose, upright heads, proclaim the Clerodendron. The blooming period is winter and spring. Individual flowers are slenderly tubular, widening into five narrow lobes which turn back against the tube. The stamens and pistil curve beyond the flower in a small red tuft. Stems of the flower head are also red and hold this color even when the green berries turn blue-black.
The shrub grows about ten feet tall. Its large, heart-shaped leaves are thick and velvety, with wavy margins and prominent venation. The stems and pedicels are downy, and the latter have a tendency to turn red as the leaf matures.
This exotic looking shrub comes from South China and India. It is a member of the Verbena family. Specimens grow in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel garden and Thomas Square. (Plate VI)
The popular name, Golden Dewdrop well describes the clusters of small, bright, yellow berries which hang on this shrub a large part of the year. They are so plentiful they usually cause the slender, grey-stemmed branches to droop gracefully. They lend themselves to interesting arrangements. The shrub may attain ten feet in height. Its small, light-green leaves are pointed at either end.
The flowers are a delicate, lavender-blue, or white, very small and formed as minute tubes, with five lobes. They grow as spreading clusters at the ends of the branches.
This shrub, a member of the Verbena family, is a native of tropical America. It is grown in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel garden. (Plate VI)
SHRIMP PLANT _Beloperone guttata Brandegee_ (_Beloperone nemorosa_)
Rosy or yellowish bracts, overlapping with scale-like precision to form a curving tube, are highly suggestive of the curved tail of a shrimp and explain the popular name of this plant. The true flowers appear, one or two at a time, from beneath the colored bracts, near the tip. They are small, white, tubular, with purplish dots on the larger of the two lobes.