|
|
| |
Acanthus ilicifolius
|
| |
|
| |
Family:
ACANTHACEAE
|
| |
Citation: Acanthus ilicifolius L., Sp. Pl. 639. 1753; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 481. 1884; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1014(712). 1925; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 221, Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 298. 1984; Ansari, Fl. Kasaragod Div. 274. 1985; Ramach. & V.J. Nair, Fl. Cannanore Dist. 331, Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 296. 1989; Babu, Fl. Malappuram Dist. 567, M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 342. 1994; Anupama & Sivad., Rheedea 14: 10. 2004; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 532. 2009.
|
| |
Malayalam Name(s):
Chulli, Chullikandal, Chakkaramullu, Chakkaramulli, Mendli, Moranna, Muthalamookku, Payinjachulli
|
| |
Tamil name(s):
|
| |
English name(s):
|
| |
Description:
Gregarious undershrubs, up to 2 m tall, usually erect, rarely scandent, branching usually from older parts; nodes with a pair of spines at the base of the petiole; stilt-roots arising from lower portion of stem. Leaves opposite-decussate, simple, 7-15 x 6-9 cm, variously shaped, elliptic, ovate-oblong, or ovate- lanceolate, narrowed at base, spinous at apex, glabrous, coriaceous, sinuately lobed and spinulose along margins, rarely entire; midrib prominent, lateral veins 4-12 pairs, estipulate; petiole usually 0.5-1 cm and rarely up to 2.5 cm long, terete. Flowers in terminal or pseudo-axillary, 8-20 cm long spikes; peduncle terete, glabrous. Flowers sessile, 3.5-x 3.5 cm across; bract 0.6-0.8 x 0.5 cm, ovate, acute, margin ciliate; bracteoles 2, conspicuous, partly covered by the bract, lanceolate, persistent. Calyx green, 4-partite, lobes glabrous, 12-15 x 1 mm, shortly connate in two opposite pairs, the outer pair larger. Corolla bluish-violet, 3 cm long with a short tube closed by basal hairs; upper lip obsolete, lower lip broadly 3-lobed to entire, recurved by the middle portion. Stamens 4, attached to the throat of corolla tube, didynamous; filaments 13-16 mm long, stout, curved, more or less flat; anthers aggregated around the style, c. 1.2 cm long, connectives thickly hairy, medifixed, bilobed, one lobe sterile, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary 2-loculed; ovules 2 in each locule on axile placenta; style c. 2.7 cm long, slender, terete; stigma bifid. Capsule, ellipsoid or ovoid-oblong, glabrous, 3-3.5 x 1.3-1.6 cm, apiculate; seeds 4, compressed, orbicular, 1.3-1.5 x 1- 1.2 cm, supported on short-hooked retinacula.
|
| |
Habit:
Shrub
|
| |
Flowering & Fruiting:
December-July
|
| |
District(s):
Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kasaragode, Kollam, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram, Kozhikkode, Ernakulam, Thrissur
|
| |
Medicinal:
Yes
|
| |
Habitat:
Mangrove forests and marshy areas along backwaters
|
| |
Distribution:
Indo-Malesia and Australia
|
| |
Aquatic:
Yes
|
| |
Epiphyte(s):
No
|
| |
Saprophyte:
No
|
| |
Stem parasite:
No
|
| |
Root parasite:
No
|
| |
Flower colour(s):
Blue
|
| |
Weed:
No
|
| |
Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
|
| |
Exotic:
No
|
| |
Garden:
No
|
| |
Edible:
No
|
| |
Vegetable:
No
|
| |
Endemic to:
|
| |
IUCN status:
|
| |
Altitude:
|
| |
Localities:
Kumbla, Taliparamba, Nileswar, Tellicherry, Pallithode
|
|