Commemorating J. Gottlieb Gmelin (1709–55), German botanist and traveller.

Trees or large shrubs. Leaves simple, arranged in alternating pairs below one another, stalked. Flower clusters terminal, compound, much branched. Flowers irregular. Calyx tubular, generally 4-5-toothed and with large glands, persistent in fruit. Corolla tube widening to the mouth, 2-lipped, upper lip 2- lobed, lower 3-lobed. Stamens in 2 pairs. Ovary 4-chambered. Fruit a fleshy drupe.

Seed.

Trees; flowers in terminal clusters; fruiting calyx persistent, not changing.

33 species from Australia, Malesia, Asia and Africa. Australia has 5 species, 2 endemic.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Verbenaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.