Clerodendrum Bungei – Peanut Butter Tree

Description

The peanut butter tree (Clerodendrum Bungei) is a plant in the mint family (Lamiaceae) and it grows wild in China and Japan. It is sufficiently hardy in our climate. It is a shrub or small tree whose leaves leave the smell of peanut butter on the fingers when rubbed vigorously.
In spring, the shrub can be pruned considerably. Flowering does not suffer because the flowers appear in August on the twigs formed the same year. They give off a powerful, almost intoxicatingly sweet scent, which is often perceptible from afar. The flowers are often visited by bees and butterflies. When they start to bloom, purple calyxes unfold in which a fruit the size of a pea and the unlikely color of sky-blue turquoise develops.
The shrub is deciduous and can grow up to 4 m tall. In rich, loose soil, it forms root suckers.