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African Asystasia
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African Asystasia
A Naturalized Photo: Navendu Pāgé
Common name: African Asystasia, Chinese violet, African Coromandel
Botanical name: Asystasia intrusa    Family: Acanthaceae (Acanthus family)
Synonyms: Ruellia intrusa, Asystasia pubescens, Asystasia coromandeliana var. micrantha

African Asystasia is an erect straggling annual herb, with stem swollen above node, 4-angled, prostrate below. Flowers are less than 2 cm, petals white, lower dorsal lip with purple marks, flower tube cylindric below and inflated above. Bracts are 3, purple, bracteole none, sepal-cup tubular, sepals green, 5, stamens 4, didynamous (longer ones-8 mm, smaller ones 6 mm), a purple mark on sides of anther. Leaves are opposite, hairless or sometimes possess minute hairs, dense on veins; leaf-stalk up to 5 cm long; blade ovate broadly elliptic, largest 2-11.5 x 1-6 cm; tip commonly rounded, base heart-shaped; margin entire. Young leaves are ovate, mature ones ovate elongated with blade decurrent to leaf-stalk. Fruit is a capsule, seeds 4. African Asystasia is native to Africa, now naturalized in East China and South India. Flowering: October-March.

Identification credit: Navendu Pāgé Photographed in Hastakaragadde, Karnataka.

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