Herbs We Used to Know: Harlequin Glorybower (Clerodendrum trichotomum)

Harlequin Glorybower (Seed Head)
© Debs Cook

Back in September 2006 we visited Lyddington Bede House a place with a small herb garden maintained by English Heritage near Oakham in Rutland. The village of Lyddington is a beautiful place and we took time to walk around drinking in the sights, sounds and the gardens. I was amazed to see the above seed pods staring out at me from one garden, it looked almost alien and I had no clue what it was, but as is my way I took lots of photos intending to identify it one day. Imagine my delight when this week I was looking for something else entirely and I came across a similar image to the one I'd taken (above). It didn't take long for me to discover what the plant was and to further discover that it did indeed fit into the herbal world and what it was used for.

The plants Latin name is Clerodendrum trichotomum more commonly known as the Harlequin Glorybower and Chou Wu Tong. I actually found Chou Wu Tong with a small photo in Andrew Chevallier's "Encyclopaedia of Herbal Medicine". Easy once I knew what I was looking for, but no way would I have found it before I had a name!

Chou Wu Tong has been used as a medicinal plant from the earliest times in its native country China. Where its used to dispel wind, remove damp and lower blood pressure, it has also been used as an antimalarial agent. Chou Wu Tong was first documented in the Illustrated Classic of the Materia Medica (AD 1061). The leaves although they have a pungent aroma, some say that they smell like peanut butter, hence one of its other names "The Peanut Butter Tree" are mildly analgesic, anti-pruritic, hypotensive and sedative, and can be used externally in the treatment of dermatitis and internally for the treatment of hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, joint pain, numbness and paralysis. The roots and leaves are anti-rheumatic and hypotensive and the pounded seed is used to kill lice!

Harlequin Glorybower (Flowers)
© Debs Cook

The flowers of the Harlequin Glorybower are white and tubular, with four prominent stamens – they have a strong and attractive fresh fragrance, like fresh lemon scented washing hung out to dry. But the true wonder of this plant is the shiny deep blue or turquoise berries framed by scarlet to deep pink calyxes, that stand around each berry like a four pointed star, which form in late summer and hang on after the leaves drop. They look like they're artificial and made of wax, so amazing to see such a brilliant colour combination and so unusual, I've also discovered that the seeds make a good blue dye. Remove the outer covering of the seeds and simmer what is left in water. Use this water to dye wool or silk mordanted with copper. The leaves can also be used as a dye, although what colour is given I've not been able to determine, maybe its blue the same as the seeds?