Oriental Lady's Thumb is an annual herb with stems
erect, rising up or prostrate at base, 1-2 ft tall, branched from base,
hairless, swollen at nodes. Leaf-stalks are short or nearly absent;
leaf blade lanceshaped or broadly lanceshaped, 5-13 x 1-2 cm, below
appressed bristly along veins, above becoming hairless, base narrowed
to rounded, margin fringed with hairs, tip pointed or tapering; ocrea
tubular, 7-8 mm, membranous, sparsely velvet-hairy, tip flat, cilia 6-7
mm. Flowers are borne at branch-ends or in leaf-axils, in erect spikes
2-4 cm long, interrupted; bracts funnel-shaped, hairless, margin long
fringed with hairs, each 5- or 6-flowered. Flower-stalks equaling
bracts, 2-2.5 mm. Flowers pink or red-purple, 5-parted; tepals
elliptic, 1.5-2 mm. Stamens 6-8, included. Styles 3, fused to below
middle; stigmas capitate. Achenes included in persistent perianth,
black, shiny, broadly ovoid, trigonous, about 2 mm. Oriental Lady's
Thumb is found in China, India, Russia, Japan, Malaysia. It is found in
Kashmir, Nepal and Eastern Himalaya, up to 3000 m altitude.
Identification credit: Tabish
Photographed in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh.
• Is this flower misidentified?
If yes,
Your name: Your email: Your comments
The flower labeled Oriental Lady's Thumb is ...