[Plate VIII]
TROPICAL SHRUBS—CHAPTER IV
Identification key (1) Dwarf Poinciana (2) Chenille Plant (3) Cape Honeysuckle (4) Crepe Myrtle (5) Crown Flower (6) Beach Naupaka (7) Purple Lantana (8) Pikake (9) Crown of Thorns (10) Singapore Holly
FLOWERING ERANTHEMUM
Pseuderanthemum reticulatum Radlkofer
Conspicuous for its yellowish leaves and small white and purplish flowers is this Eranthemum. The yellow color appears extensively on the young leaves and survives on the older ones as yellow venations, making the plant appear very bright and sunny. The tubular flowers grow in small spikes, the tubes broadening into four lobes. These are spotted with purple dots where they begin to broaden.
The plant grows about six feet high. It belongs to the Acanthus family and possibly comes from Indo-Malaya or Polynesia. Specimens may be seen in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel garden. ([Plate VI])
VINCA ROSEA. MADAGASCAR PERIWINKLE
Lochnera rosea (L.) Reichenbach
Rosy pink or pure white flowers, on a short, herbaceous plant which looks like a temperate zone annual, is the Periwinkle. It is a cousin of the blue myrtle, or periwinkle of the mainland, but resembles the latter only in the general form of the flowers. Known elsewhere as Madagascar periwinkle (although not a native of that island) it is called in Hawaii simply Periwinkle or Vinca.
The flowers are flat, five-petalled and ever-blooming. Some of the white ones have a cerise eye in the center. The leaves are greyish, long, narrow, with blunt tips. It is a cosmopolitan in the tropics and can be found growing on the University of Hawaii grounds. ([Plate VI])