Leucas wightiana

Leucas wightiana Wall. ex Benth., Pl. Asiat. Rar. 1: 60 1830. (Syn: Leucas aspera var. wightiana (Wall. ex Benth.) Benth.);

W. & S. India as per WCSP;

Erect, annual herbs, profusely branched, 15-35 cm high; branches 4-gonous, scabrid or hirsute with deflexed-appressed hairs. Leaves subsessile, 3-8 x 0.2-1 cm, linear, obtuse, entire or obscurely distantly serrulate, flat or revolute at margins, decurrent at base, scabrid above, hairy beneath, chartaceous. Flower-whorls 3-6, upto 12- flowered, small, 1-1.5 cm in diam., axillary, often closely arranged upwards forming short spikes. Bracts 4-6 mm long, linear, slender, slightly shorter or about as long as calyx, ciliate. Calyx-tube 6-7 mm long, tubular, straight, not constricted above the nutlets, prominently 10 or 11-nerved upwards, hispid outside; mouth widely oblique, produced above, hairy within; villi shorter than teeth; teeth 10 or 11, triangular, sharply pointed, hirsute, upper ones longest, upto 1.5 mm long. Corolla-tube included, annulate within; lips almost equal, upper one 2-3 mm long, bearded with white hairs; lower lip broad, deflexed. Filaments bearded near apex; anthers connivent, dorsifixed, orange-red. Disc slightly 4-lobed. Nutlets ca 3 mm long, trigonous, with a small basal scar, brown, greyish hairy.

Flowering and fruiting: September-November

In the plains

Western Ghats (endemic)

(Attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi from India Biodiversity Portal)