Home › C › Clavija (Named after J Clavijo Faxardo)

Clavija (Named after J Clavijo Faxardo)

(named after J. Clavijo Faxardo, a Spanish naturalist, who translated Buffon's works into Spanish). SYN. Theophrasta (of Linnaeus, not of Jussieu). ORD. Myrsineoe. A genus of stove evergreen trees or shrubs. Stems simple, unbranched, furnished at top with a tuft of long, alternate, oblong-lanceolate, coriaceous, spiny-toothed or quite entire leaves, somewhat in the manner of palm-trees. Flowers in axillary or lateral racemes, often secund. There are about twenty-five species, all natives of tropical America, &c. They thrive in a compost of peat and loam. Cuttings of half-ripened shoots will root in sandy loam, with a surface consisting wholly of sand, if placed in bottom heat, under a bell glass.

C. fulgens (brilliant).* fl. deep orange-red, very handsome; racemes short, axillary. l. obcuneately spathulate, 1ft. or more long. Stem simple, bearing a crown of leaves. Peru, 1867. (B. M. 5626.) C. macrocarpa (large-fruited). fl. rather large; racemes from 3in. to 12in. long, pendulous. l. spathulate-oblong, acute, stiff, dotted beneath; petioles hardly 1in. long. h. 10ft. to 12ft. Peru, 1816.

C. macrophylla (large-leaved). A synonym of C. Reideliana. C. ornata (adorned).* fl. orange-coloured; racemes drooping, 3in. to 4in. long. l. long-lanceolate, acute, spiny-toothed; petioles 2 1/4in. long. h. 10ft. to 12ft. Caraccas, 1828. SYN. Theophrasta longifolia. (B. M. 4922.) C. Reideliana (Reidel's).* fl. orange-coloured; racemes axillary, from amongst an beneath the crown of leaves. July. l. sessile obovate-lanceolate, spinosely-serrate; larger ones 12in. to 20in. long. Brazil. SYN. C. macrophylla. (B. M. 5829.) Other two species are: Rodekiana and umbrosa.