Laportea interrupta

(L.) Chew

Family: Urticaceae

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Rosales > Urticaceae > Laportea > L. interrupta

Common name [English]: Woodnettle

Vernacular name [Malayalam]: ആനക്കൊടിത്തൂവ

Nativity: Tropical & S. Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Mozambique, Tropical & Subtropical Asia to Queensland

Habitat: Degraded deciduous forests, also in the plains, wet and shady places.

Description: Erect monoecious annual herbs with stinging hairs. Leaves alternate, 4-10 x 3-5 cm, broadly ovate, base rounded or subcordate, margin coarsely serrate, apex acuminate, sparsely hairy, membranous, 3-nerved from base; petiole to 8 cm long. Flowers in short, cymose clusters aggregated in slender lax, axillary spikes to 13 cm long. Male flowers: tepals 4, c. 1 mm long, ovate, concave; stamens 4, filaments unequal; pistillode linear, clavate. Female flowers: tepals 4, unequal, basally connate into a cup; ovary obliquely attached, ovoid, style lateral, filiform. Achenes c. 2 mm across, ovoid, compressed.

Flowering and Fruiting : August-September

Uses: Folk medicine

Cultivation: Wild

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org