Strobilanthes attenuata

Small shrubs, erect, ca 1 m high, glandular hairy; branches quadrangular, puberulous, glandular-hairy above, glabrescent below. Leaves in pairs unequal, ovate, ca 12.5 x 7.5 cm, rounded or cordate at base, prominently serrate at margin, acute at tip, scabrous-hispid above, pubescent beneath, distinctly lineolate on both surfaces; petioles length variable, ca 1 cm long, winged upward (upper leaves sessile); secondary nerves 7-8 pairs. Inflorescences terminal much interrupted spikes, early panicled, hairy, 15-25 cm long; flowers nearly all opposite, distant; flower buds glandular hairy at tip; bracts small, linear-oblong, ca 6 mm long, smaller than calyx lobes, early caducous; bracteoles linear, much smaller than calyx, caducous, subscarious, ciliate, glandular-hairy. Calyx with a small tube, deeply divided; lobes unequal, linear, ca 1.2 cm long, one of them longer than others, rounded or obtuse at apex, ciliate on the margin, glandular-hairy. Corolla curved, deep purple, tubular-ventricose, ca 3 cm long; tube a little contracted at base, much smaller than ventricose portion, hardly longer than the calyx; ventricose portion much inflated, 2 hairy lines within; curved above, 5-lobed; lobes orbicular and veined. Stamens 4; sheath extending to the middle of ventricose portion, glabrous/slightly hairy; filaments glabrous; inner two shorter, crossing the longer filaments. Ovary glandular, puberulous at apex; style ca 2.6 cm long, glabrous or slightly hairy below. Capsules narrowly elliptic, ca 1.5 cm long, glandular-pubescent, 4-seeded; seeds ovate, ca 4 mm, hairy with a small areole.

Fl. & Fr.: Less known about flowering period or periodicity.

Habitat: . W. Temperate Himalaya, 3500 m, common; from Kashmir to Kumaon, In grassland on mountainous slopes, 2500 m Tibet; also grow in gardens as cultivated species in Karnataka

Distrib.: World: Afganistan, China, India, Nepal, North Pakistan and Tibet.

Note: Wallich 2345 cited by Nees was excluded by Wood (l.c.). as it is Echinacanthus attenuates Nees.

nice photography and what an apt name for the flowers’ shape

I am looking at my old post on S. atropurpurea here. The plant is almost certainly S. attenuata. Moreover, almost all the other entries on the page seem attenuata to me as well. Please check.

This is almost certainly Strobilanthes attenuata. It is certainly not S. atropurpurpurea. In the UK the gardening fraternity often (incorrectly) use the name atropurpurea for S. attenuata.