Strobilanthes lurida

Strobilanthes lurida Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 4: t. 1515 1850. (syn: Didyplosandra lurida (Wight) Bremek.);
India (SW-Ghats (Kerala, Tamil Nadu)) as per Catalogue of life;
Common name: Lurid Coneflower • Malayalam: മുട്ടകന്നികുരിന്ജീ Muttakannikurinji

Large straggling branched shrubs; stem thick, virgate, swollen at nodes, glabrous. Leaves opposite, ca 20 x10 cm, ovate-elliptic, obtuse towards base, crenulate at margin, acuminate at apex, coriaceous, pilose, densely so beneath; petioles to 5 cm long, faintly hairy. Inflorescences spikes, from older stems, often from near ground, opposite, ascending, uninterrupted, compact, ca 8 x 4.5 cm, hispid; peduncles ca 4 cm long, usually with one or 2 joints; bracts orbicular, large, ca 2.5 x 2 cm, entire or wavy at margin, acute, emarginated or retuse at tip, ribbed, glabrous or glandular-pubescent, purple with black tinge; bracteoles 2, ligulate, ca 1.8 cm, acute, white. Calyx ca 2 cm long, 5-lobed, near to the base; lobes lanceolate, slightly enlarged in fruit with a row of bristles on abaxial face, finely ridged, ca 2.2 cm long. Corolla somewhat bilabiate, ca 3 cm long, exceeding large dull bracts, tubular-ventricose, purple, attractive; tube ca 2 mm long; ventricose portion widening above gradually, glabrous outside, hairy inside, 5-lobed; lobes ovate, obtuse, ca 3 mm long. Stamens 4, equal, united in pairs at base forming a staminal sheath, exserted; filaments ca 1.5 cm long; filaments and sheath glabrous. Ovary on a prominent disc, ca 2.5 mm; style slender, ca 2.5 cm long; stigma bilobed. Capsules ovoid-ellipsoid, ca 2 cm long, acuminate, glabrous, included in bracts; seeds 4, rounded, lenticular, ca 7 mm, smooth, glabrous on both faces, exareolate.

Flowering and fruiting: December-April
Evergreen and shola forests
Southern Western Ghats
(Attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi from India Biodiversity Portal)


/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Strobilanthes%20luridus%20_2980.JPG

Strobilanthes luridus from Munnar – PKA10 : 6 posts by 5 authors. Attachments (6) – around 600 kb each.

Seen this plant at Shola forest near Munnar.
Bot. name: Strobilanthes luridus Wight;

Family: Acanthaceae
Habit: Large straggling shrub, 1 to 3.5m ht,
Local (Malayalam) Name: Muttakannikurinji


 

References:

POWO  IPNI  Catalogue of Life  The Plant List Ver.1.1 (Strobilanthes lurida Wight) GBIF (with high resolution specimens) Flowers of India  India Biodiversity Portal  Plant illustrations  Kerala Tourism

Updated on December 23, 2024

Related Articles