Botanical name: Ruellia tuberosa      Family: Acanthaceae (Acanthus family)

Popping Pod is a herb with curiously shaped blue flowers and spindle-shaped tuberous roots. The big bisexual flowers are violet, 2.2-5.5 cm long, outside hairy; petals round, about 1.6 x 1.5 cm. Sepal-tube is yo to 6 mm, outside woolly; sepals linear-lanceshaped, 0.9-2 cm. A tropical perennial growing up to a height of 16 cm with a hairy stem. The simple leaves are opposite and elliptic; the plant only flowers after the start of the rainy season. It has thick finger-like roots. The ripe fruits, in a pod with 7-8 seeds each, burst open, when they get wet and the black seeds are hurdled away, inspiring the common name. Popping Pod is native to tropical America, widely naturalized in Tropical Asia and Africa.
Medicinal uses: In folk medicine and Ayurvedic medicine it has been used as a diuretic, anti-diabetic, antipyretic, analgesic, antihypertensive, gastroprotective, and to treat gonorrhea.

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The flower labeled Popping Pod is ...