Trichodesma zeylanicum

Usually flowers and fruits as a herb about 30-40 cm tall but occasionally grows into a shrub about 1 m tall. Leaf blades very variable in size, about 3.5-10.5 x 0.7-2 cm but always bearing white scabrous hairs on both the upper and lower surfaces so that the leaves have a sandpapery feel. Finer silky hairs also present. Lateral veins depressed on the upper surface of the leaf blade. Stems and twigs also clothed in white scabrous hairs. Flowers are about 1.5-2 cm across, generally blue, but occasionally white. Sepals are clothed in white appressed hairs on both the inner and outer surfaces. Sepals are fused together near the base by means of the hairs on the edge of each calyx lobe. Corolla cream towards the centre but the lobes blue, ending in long spirally coiled tips. Each anther ending in a long appendage which is hairy in the lower half and spirally twisted at the tip. Nutlets about 3-4 mm long, enclosed in the persistent calyx lobes. This species is globally distributed from Indo-Malesia to Australia. Within India it is found in the Peninsular India crossing into South West Bengal.