Commemorating Theodor Holmskiold (1732–94), a Danish botanist.

Spreading shrubs, sometimes spiny. Leaves opposite, simple. Flower clusters axillary or terminal. Flowers with calyx obscurely 5-lobed, short-tubed, mostly red, enlarging in fruit. Corolla long-tubed and slightly curved, 2-lipped, with 5 unequal reflexed lobes. Stamens 5.ovary 4-chambered, with 1 ovule per chamber. Fruit a 4-lobed capsule.

Grown in warm climates for the highly ornamental flowers.

Cuttings.

Grown throughout the tropics for the large ornamental calyx.

10 species extending from Africa to India.

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.