THE COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF CLERODENDRON TRICHOTOMUM THUNB. AND C. FRAGRANS VENT.

The. dried leaves of C. trichotomum Thunb. belonging to family Verbenaceae has been used as sedative and antihypertensive agent in Chinese traditional medicine. It is similar in appearance to the leaves of C. frangrans Vent. But the latter is not recorded in Chinese pharmacopoeia. In order to distingush C. trichotomum Thunb. from C. frangrans Vent, their comparative anatomy was studied. The petiole's vascular structure of family Verbenaceae is of taxonomic value. However, C. trichotomum has been misidentified as ten or four separate bundles in its petiole. Its developmental anatomy showed that it is made of three separate bundles. A large bundle in the centre is one bundle, not eight or two. Because its phloem from young leaf to old is all continuous arc, and so is the xylem of old leaf.Some of the more important diagnostic characters of these plants are tabulated with 13 photos accompanying them as follows.