FoI
Broad-Leaf False Eranthemum
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Broad-Leaf False Eranthemum
P Native Photo: Siddarth Machado
Common name: Broad-Leaf False Eranthemum
Botanical name: Pseuderanthemum latifolium    Family: Acanthaceae (Acanthus family)
Synonyms: Justicia latifolia, Justicia palatifera, Pseuderanthemum palatiferum

Broad-Leaf False Eranthemum is a perenniak herb up to 1 m tall. Stems are 4-angled, velvet-hairy. Leaf-stalk 1-2.5 mm; leaf blade elliptic, 11.5-12 × 3.5-6 cm, below hairless except hairy on midvein, above hairless, secondary veins 5 or 6 on each side of midvein, base wedge-shaped, margin nearly entire to slightly wavy-crenulate, tip tapering. Flowers are borne in racemes up to 30 cm; axis velvet-hairy, usually with 3-flowered clusters at nodes; bracts triangular, 4-6 x about 2 mm, velvet-hairy; bracteoles similar to bracts. Flower-stalks are 0.5-2 mm. Calyx is 5-6 mm, outside velvet-hairy; sepals linear, 4.5-5.5 × about 1 mm. Flower are light purple with purple dots on lower lip, 2-3 cm. Flower-tube is linear, unusually long, 1.5-2.5 cm. Petals are 3-4 x about 3 mm. Style is basally velvet-hairy. Capsules are about 2.5 cm, velvet-hairy. Seeds ovate in outline, about 4 × 4 mm, rugose. Aug-Sep.Broad-Leaf False Eranthemum is found in Forests at altitudes of 100-1600 m, in Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam. Flowering: April-June.

Identification credit: Siddarth Machado Photographed in Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam.

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