| Curved-Flower Flame-Acanthus |
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Botanical name: Phlogacanthus curviflorus Family: Acanthaceae (Acanthus family)
Synonyms: Justicia curviflora
Synonyms: Justicia curviflora
Curved-Flower Flame-Acanthus is a large branched
shrub, up to 3-4 m tall. Oppositely arranged leaves are 8-10 inches
long. They are elliptic, pointed at both ends, sometimes somewhat
toothed. Flowers are borne in upright spikes at the end of branches.
Flowers are long, tube-like, reddish, 4.5-5 cm, outside densely
brownish velvet-hairy and sometimes including gland-tipped trichomes;
tube about 4.2 cm; lower lip 3-lobed, lobes oblong and about 2 x 1.5
mm; upper lip 2-cleft. Stamens slightly protruding. Sepal-cup is 6-11
mm; sepals subulate to lanceshaped, almost equal, outside sparsely
velvet-hairy, inside densely brown woolly. Curved-Flower
Flame-Acanthus is found in NE India, Yunnan, Bhutan, Laos, Myanmar,
Thailand, Vietnam, at altitudes of 400-1600 m.
Medicinal uses:
In Manipur, boiled leaf juice
is used as a tea-like drink to cure cough and fever. Flowers are eaten
raw or fried as tonic. In Arunachal Pradesh, pounded flowers are used
as condiment.
Medicinal uses:
In Manipur, boiled leaf juice
is used as a tea-like drink to cure cough and fever. Flowers are eaten
raw or fried as tonic. In Arunachal Pradesh, pounded flowers are used
as condiment. | Identification credit: Ritesh Choudhary, Tanay Bose | Photographed in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh & Mizoram. |
• Is this flower misidentified? If yes,