Justicia adhatoda 

Justicia adhatoda L.

Family     :  Acanthaceae 

Common Name  : ആടലോടകം(Mal)

          Malabar nut( Eng)                      

     IUCN status          :   Least concern (LC) -

Evergreen, much-branched perennial shrubs with a strong, odour, 1.2-3 m tall. Leaves simple, opposite, 5-30 cm long, elliptic-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, apex acute, margins entire, hairy, light green above, dark beneath, leathery; petiole 1-2.5 cm long. Flowers in compact, axillary, pedunculate spikes; peduncles 3-10 cm long; bracts 2 x 1 cm, elliptic, subacute, 6-7 nerved; bracteoles 2 x 0.4 cm, oblong-lanceolate, 1-nerved. Calyx lobes 1 cm long, oblong-lanceolate, 3-nerved. Corolla white with red or yellow-barred throats; upper lip 2 x 1 cm, curved, obtuse, notched; lower as long as the upper lip. Stamens 2, anther cells not tailed; filaments hairy at the base. Ovary pubescent; ovules 2 in each cell; style hairy towards the base. Fruits clavate, longitudinally channelled, 1.9-2.2 x 0.8 cm wide, pubescent; seeds globular, glabrous.