Galapagos Species Database

The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.

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Volkameria mollis (Kunth) Mabb. & Y.W.Yuan

rodilla de caballo, Glorybower

Shrub, up to 5 m tall, with stems densely covered with short hairs. The leaves are opposite and simple, and the flowers have corolla pinkish purple tubes and white lobes. The fruit is grayish brown. The seeds are round and separate into 4 sections when mature (McMullen, 1996).

Used as living fence. Easy to prune into a range of forms (Atkinson et al., 2009).

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Plantae

Phylum
Magnoliophyta

Class
Magnoliopsida (= Dicotyledoneae)

Order
Lamiales

Family
Lamiaceae

Genus
Volkameria

Species
mollis

Taxon category: Accepted

Syn.: Clerodendrum molle var. molle Kunth; Syn.: Clerodendrum molle Kunth. The Plant List (2017).

Origin: Native

Distribution

Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.

Distribution: The native range of this species is Panama to W. South America (POWO, 2023).

References

  • Atkinson, R. Guézou, A. & Jaramillo, P. (2009) Siémbrame en tu jardín - Plantas nativas para jardines en Galápagos. Fundación Charles Darwin, Puerto Ayora, Galápagos, Ecuador, 151 pp.
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2022) Plants of the world online POWO (2022): Plants of the world online. Published on the Internet; Https://powo.science.kew.org/
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Missouri Botanical Garden (eds.) (2013) The Plant List, Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ (accessed 1st January).
  • Tropicos.org. (2017) Database of Missouri Botanical Garden. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 06 Oct 2017 <http://www.tropicos.org
  • Wiggins, I.L. (1968) A New Species and Subspecies of Galvezia (Scrophulariaceae) from the Galápagos Islands. Occ. Pap. Calif. Acad. Sci. 65: 1-7.
  • Wiggins, I.L. Porter, D.M. (1971) Flora of the Galapagos Islands Standford University Press, Stanford.
  • Yuan, Yao-Wu Mabberley, D., Steane, D. A., Olmstead, R. (2010) Further disintegration and redefinition of Clerodendrum (Lamiaceae): Implications for the understanding of the evolution of an intriguing breeding strategy TAXON 59 (1) • February 2010: 125–133

You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.

This page should be cited as follows:

"Galapagos Species Database, Volkameria mollis", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=18595. Accessed 1 November 2026.