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Blue Fountain Bush
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Blue Fountain Bush
ative Photo: Neha Singh
Common name: Blue Fountain Bush • Hindi: भरंगी Bharangi • Manipuri: ꯃꯣꯏꯔꯥꯡ ꯈꯥꯅꯝ Moirang khanam • Marathi: भरंगी Bharangi • Tamil: சிறு தேக்கு Sirutekku • Malayalam: Cherutekku • Telugu: Gantubarangi • Kannada: ಗಂಟುಭಾರಂಗಿ Gantubhaarangi, ಕಿರಿತಗ್ಗಿ Kiri taggi • Gujarati: भरंगी Bharangi • Nepali: अनढिकि Andekhi, अखण्डि Akhandi • Mizo: Leidumsuak
Botanical name: Rotheca serrata    Family: Verbenaceae (Verbena family)
Synonyms: Volkameria serrata, Clerodendrum serratum, Cyclonema serratum

Blue Fountain Bush is a shrub 1-4 m tall. Branchlets are densely yellow velvet-hairy especially on nodes when young, becoming dark brown to gray-yellow and hairless. Leaves opposite or in threes; leaf-stalk up to 5 cm or leaf nearly stalkless; leaf blade oblong, obovate-oblong, elliptic, or ovate, 6-30 2.5-11 cm, papery, velvet-hairy, margin subentire to minutely toothed or sparsely coarse sawtoothed, tip tapering to pointed; veins 10 or 11 pairs, below prominent. Inflorescences are at branch-ends thyrses, densely yellow-brown hairy. Bracts are stalkless, ovate to broadly ovate, 1.5-4.5 0.5-1.8 cm. Flowers white, bluish, or purplish, tube 7 mm. Petals oblong to obovate, 6-12 mm. Stamens 2-4 cm long, protruding out. Style long protruding. Drupes green when young, becoming black, spherical.
Medicinal uses: Root is useful in asthma, cough and scrofulous affections. It is given in fever and is useful in sinusitis. Juice of leaves is used with ghee as an application to herpetic eruptions and pemphigus. Leaves are vermifuge and bitter tonic. The root is one of the five ingredients of Brahata Panchamool and has a large demand. The plant is considered as antitoxic, antiseptic, astringent and styptic.

Identification credit: Rahul Prabhu Khanolkar Photographed in Manipur.


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