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Sticky Ruellia
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Sticky Ruellia
ative Photo: Thingnam Girija
Common name: Sticky Ruellia
Botanical name: Strobilanthes glutinosus    Family: Acanthaceae (Acanthus family)
Synonyms: Ruellia glutinosa, Pseudaechmanthera glutinosa

Sticky Ruellia is a perennial herb with 2-5 ft tall, viscous-hairy, rounded stem. Leaves are stalked, hairy on both sides, egg-shaped, about 5-8 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide, with toothed margin. Flowers are pale blue, forming short spikes. Bracts are leaf-like, egg-shaped, persistent. Sepal tube is 5-parted, glandular-hairy. Flowers are about 3.5-5 cm long - tube is cylindric in the lower half, widened in the upper part. Limb is more than an inch across. Stamens are 4, hairless. Style-tip is linear, bent back. Capsule 1.5-1.8 cm long, oblong, viscous-hairy. Seeds are 4, 3-4 mm long, egg-shaped, shaggy. Sticky Ruellia is found in the Western Himalayas, from Kashmir to Nepal, at altitudes of 1000-2000 m. Flowering: October-March.

Identification credit: Krishan Lal Photographed in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand & Sirmaur distt, Himachal Pradesh.

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