Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (L.) Vahl

Family: Verbenaceae

Taxonomy:Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Lamiales > Verbenaceae > Stachytarpheta > S. jamaicensis

Common name [English]: Jamaican Blue Spike, Aaron's rod, Brazilian tea

Vernacular name [Malayalam]: നരിവാലൻ, ശീമകൊങ്ങിണി

Nativity: SE. U.S.A. to Tropical America

Habitat: Marshy areas, moist slopes, dry thickets and bunds of rice fields.

Description: Subshrubs; branches subtertragonous. Leaves 3.5-7 x 2-4 cm, obovate, base cuneate and decurrent on petiole, margin coarsely crenate-serrate, apex obtuse or rounded; petiole to 2 cm long. Spikes terminal, 10-25 cm long, c. 4 mm across. Bracts c. 7 mm long. Calyx c. 6 mm long, 4-toothed, puberulous. Corolla hypocrateriform, bluish-pink; tube 8-10 mm long, slightly curved; limb c. 8 mm across. Style included. Fruit c. 5 mm long, oblong.

Flowering and Fruiting : June-December

Uses : Used in folk and Sidda medicine to treat venereal diseases, ulcers erysipelas, dropsy, stomach ailments and to remove intestinal worms. Juice used to remove cataract. Leaves used in cardiac problems. Bark used to treat diarrhea and dysentery.

Cultivation : wild

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org