Dilip Walse Patil

Scientific Name : Stachytarpheta indica (L.) Vahl

Category : Angiosperms

Status : Alive

Habit : An erect annual tall herb, simple or dichotomously branched with stems and branches dark-green, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, young branches nearly quadrangular. Leaves : Ovate or elliptic, membranous darkgreen, glabrous or sparsely hairy, deeply impressed between the nerves , apex obtuse, base decurrent into petiole, margins sharply serrate, petiolate. Inflorescence : Terminal spikes. Flowers : Deep-blue, sessile, glabrous, slender, nearly continuous, rachis dark-green, bracteates, bracts lanceolate, acuminate with a long acumen and scarious margins. Calyx membranous, tubular, glabrous lobes 4, oblique, short, acute. Corolla deep-blue, glabrous, tube curved, hairy inside, limb as long as tube, 5-lobed. Filaments slender, hairy below. Ovary styles glabrous. Fruit : Capsules oblong or pear-shaped, ribbed, glabrous, dark purple, shining, smooth spiculate, splitting into a 2 pyrenes. Flowering and Fruiting Time : August - November Significance : Commonly cultivated in the gardens.