Plant Name

Scientific Name: Rotheca myricoides

Synonyms: Clerodendrum myricoides, C. ugandense

Common Name: Blue Butterfly Bush, Butterfly Clerodendrum, Blue Glory Bower, Blue Glorybower, Blue Cat's Whiskers

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial, Evergreen

Growth Habit: Shrub

Hawaii Native Status: Cultivated. This ornamental garden plant is native to East Africa.

Flower Color: Blue or violet

Height: Up to 10 feet (3 m) tall

Description: The butterfly-shaped, up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide flowers have long, curved stamens, 4 pale blueish white side petals and a longer, cupped, blue or violet lower petal. The flowers are followed by small, shiny, red to black, up to 4-lobed fruit. The variable leaves are green, opposite or in whorls of 3 or 4, and narrowly elliptic or egg-shaped. The upper stems are hairy or hairless and green to dark purple-red in color. The lower stems are woody and branched. The plants can be propagated by stem cuttings.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae – Mint family
Genus: Rotheca Raf. – mint
Species: Rotheca myricoides (Hochst.) Steane & Mabb. – blue butterfly bush