Its common names include glorybower, bagflower, pagoda flower and bleeding-heart.

It is currently classified in the subfamily Ajugoideae, being one of several genera transferred from Verbenaceae to Lamiaceae in the 1990s, based on phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular data.

Stamens 4 (rarely 5), usually in 2 pairs of unequal length and projecting well beyond the mouth of the corolla.

After the pollen is shed, the stamens curl up or bend over, and the style straightens out, bringing the stigma to the center of the flower.

[11] The name is derived from two Greek words, kleros, meaning "chance or fate" or "clergy", and dendron, "a tree".

Regional revisions of Clerodendrum have been done for local floras, but the last monograph of the entire genus was by John Isaac Briquet in 1895.

[2] In 1997, phylogenetic analysis of DNA data showed that Clerodendrum, as then understood, was polyphyletic.

[4] This taxonomic change was based on previous work and on a molecular phylogenetic study that was not published until the following year.

[15] In 2004, a study of DNA sequences showed that the monospecific Australian genus Huxleya was embedded in a clade of Clerodendrum species that had formerly been placed in Volkameria.

Modern cladistic analysis has largely vindicated his concepts of Clerodendrum and its relatives.

Coleb leaf aqueous extract is traditionally used by people of North-East India to alleviate symptoms of diabetes, obesity and hypertension.

[citation needed] Among the Hmar and Zomi tribes in the North East India Anphui(Clerodendrum) is also being used as a dish/curry.

The African and Asian groups can not confidently be divided into sections without more extensive sampling of taxa in phylogenetic studies.