Cat's Claw Clerodendrum

uncinatum: hooked

Erect, ascending or procumbent, shrubby perennial herb up to 1.2 m. Stems and branches angular, set with recurved and straight axillary spines. Leaves opposite, sometimes subopposite or alternate, broadly elliptic to almost round, sometimes broader than long, c. 7 × 5 cm, hairy on both surfaces, veins prominent below; margin entire. Flowers axillary, solitary, showy, scarlet-red, orange to yellow in the centre. Peduncles persisting as straight spines after the flowers have fallen. Fruit ovoid up to 17 mm long, shiny black and slightly lobed when ripe, held in the persistent calyx.

Angola, Botswana, DRC, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and North-West Province, South Africa.

Kalaharia is a genus of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, first described in 1891. It contains only one known species, Kalaharia uncinata. It is native to central and southern Africa from Cape Province of South Africa north to Gabon and Tanzania.