Barleria tomentosa

Barleria tomentosa Roth, Nov. Pl. Sp. 314 1821. (Syn: Barleria paniculata Nees; Barleria racemosa Wall. [Invalid]);
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bar-LEER-ee-uh — name commemorates French botanist, Jacques Barrelier … Dave’s Botanary
toh-men-TOH-suh — covered with fine, matted hairs … Dave’s Botanary
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commonly known as: velvety barleria • Kannada: ಮಖಮಲ್ಲು ಗೋರಟೆ makhamallu gorate • Marathi: मखमली कोरांटी makhamali koranti
Names compiled / updated at https://dineshvalke.blogspot.com/2025/04/barleria-tomentosa-bheyne-ex-roth.html

Shrubs, branchlets pubescent. Leaves 4-6 x 2-3 cm, ovate, apex acuminate, base acute, tomentose below; petiole to 3 cm. Flowers subsessile in short axillary racemes; bracts spathulate; calyx lobes 4, to 1.5 x 0.7 cm, subequal, obovate; corolla 3 mm across, salviform, pink, tube to 7 cm; stamens 2. Capsule 4-seeded; seed hairy.

Flowering and fruiting: December-March

Deciduous forests

Peninsular India

(From India Biodiversity Portal

Attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi )
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Images by Anurag N. Sharma, Identified by Vijayasankar Raman & Mahadeswara Swamy (Inserted by J.M.Garg)

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Acanthaceae fortnight ANMAR12/33 Please identify this shrub : 8 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (7)

Family: Acanthaceae
Date: November 2014
Place: Nelliyampathy-Nemmara Ghat, Palakkad, Kerala
Habit: Shrub
Flowers were large, almost 6-8 cm across, the shrub too was tall.

Barleria tomentosa, perhaps.

Thanks … Please see this for details of B. tomentosa.

I agree with …

Thank you very much sir. Barleria tomentosa it is.

Barleria species for identification NAK1 December 22: 8 very high res. images.
Please help identify this Barleria, seeds collected from Bellary, Karnataka and grown in Bangalore. It has bloomed now and I am able to key it to B. tomentosa based on the bracts being equal to or longer than the calyx. I would like to know if this identification is right.

I think so as per attached publication and as per images at
https://efloraofindia.com/2012/07/07/barleria-tomentosa-roth/

Names of Plants in India :: Barleria tomentosa B.Heyne ex Roth: 1 image.

Barleria tomentosa B.Heyne ex Roth

bar-LEER-ee-uh — name commemorates French botanist, Jacques Barrelier … Dave’s Botanary
toh-men-TOH-suh — covered with fine, matted hairs … Dave’s Botanary

commonly known as: velvety barleria • Kannada: ಮಖಮಲ್ಲು ಗೋರಟೆ makhamallu gorate • Marathi: मखमली कोरांटी makhamali koranti

botanical names: Barleria tomentosa B.Heyne ex Roth … heterotypic synonyms: Barleria paniculata Nees • Barleria racemosa Wall. • Barleria tomentosa var. glandulosa C.E.C.Fisch. • Ruellia paniculata Wall. ex Nees … and more at POWO, retrieved 24 April 2025

Bibliography / etymology

Links listed as references in the notes below, may not remain valid permanently. Portals / websites have a tendency to re-organize / revise their content, leading to change in URLs of pages in their site. Some sites may even close down at their own will. The bits about the languages of India mentioned below are merely some bare facts gathered from the internet; just enough to satisfy curiosity about “where” could the listed names be best prevalent in India. All English transliterated names to be taken sensu amplo.

~~~~~ ENGLISH ~~~~~

written and spoken widely, in most parts of India

velvety barleria

for want of name, name coined by Flowers of India, retrieved April 24, 2025

~~~~~ KANNADA ~~~~~

written in: Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ) … spoken in: Karnataka

ಮಖಮಲ್ಲು ಗೋರಟೆ makhamallu gorate

name coined, for want of name; ಮಖಮಲ್ಲು makhamallu = velvet (tomentose leaves appear velvety); ಗೋರಟೆ gorate = generic name given to several species of Barleria

~~~~~ MARATHI ~~~~~

written in: Devanagari (मराठी) … spoken in: Maharashtra, Karnataka

मखमली कोरांटी makhamali koranti

name coined, for want of name; मखमली makhamali = velvety (tomentose leaves appear velvety); कोरांटी koranti = generic name given to several species of Barleria

~~~~~ DISTRIBUTION in INDIA ~~~~~

*Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, *Kerala, Maharashtra, *Tamil Nadu, *Telangana, ¿ Uttar Pradesh ?; not endemic to India, known to be distributed globally in Sri Lanka

Hassler, Michael (1994 – 2025): World Plants. Synonymic Checklist and Distribution of the World Flora. Version 25.04; last update April 17th, 2025. Last accessed 24/04/2025 (dd/mm/yyyy).
Shendage, Shankar & Yadav, Shrirang. (2010). Revision of the Genus Barleria (Acanthaceae) in India. Rheedea. 20.
Maharashtra :: The Gazetteer Department – Maharashtra State … महाराष्ट्रातील वनस्पतीशास्त्र आणि वनसंपदा [accessed on: 28 Apr 2014]
Telangana :: Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. Downloaded on 24 April 2025.
Uttar Pradesh :: Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. Downloaded on 24 April 2025.

* no given name / no name found in the regional language(s) of the state

~~~~~ Created on: 10:01 24-04-2025 ¦ Last updated: 16:12 24-04-2025 (DD-MM-YYYY) ~~~~~

Names compiled / updated at https://dineshvalke.blogspot.com/2025/04/barleria-tomentosa-bheyne-ex-roth.html

References:

Revision of the Genus Barleria (Acanthaceae) in India – IAAT The Plant List India Biodiversity Portal

Updated on May 1, 2025

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