Henckelia missionis - Kanyakumari Stone Flower

Kanyakumari Stone Flower is a perennial herb with leaves 6-10, ovate to elliptic, obliquely heart-shaped at base, entire at margins, pointed to tapering at tip, 5.5-12.1 × 3.5-7.3 cm, membranous, densely bristly above; veins 6 pairs, slightly impressed above, raised beneath. Leaf-stalks are 6.5-16 cm long, densely bristly. Flowers are 1.2-1.7 cm long, almost funnel-shaped, two-lipped, 5-lobed; lower petals 3, upper petals 2; petals entire, rounded, pale blue, throat with yellow markings, papillate hairy throughout. Stamens are 2, not protruding. Flower-stalks are round, 8-10 mm long. Sepal-cup 5-lobed, fused at base; sepals lanceshaped, pointed at tip, 5-8 mm long, sparsely glandular hairy outside towards tip, hairless inside. Flower cymes are 2-4, in leaf-axils, 5-10-flowered; bracts two, linear, about 4 mm long; flower-cluster-stalks round, 15-30 cm long, densely bristly, brown. Capsules are cylindrical, 2.6-3.7cm long, with persistent stigma. Kanyakumari Stone Flower is endemic to southern Western Ghats. Flowering: August-December.