1158

 Plectranthus hadiensis (Forssk.) Schweinf

Synonym	:	Plectranthus zeylanicus Benth
Family	:	LAMIACEAE
Local name	:	Malayalam  -Iruveli
Flowering and fruiting period	:	September-November
Distribution	:	Native of Sri Lanka
Distribution in kerala	:	Idukki
Habitat	:	Cultivated as medicinal plant
Uses	:	The plant is used in the treatment of coughs, inflammations, digestive complaints and skin conditions
Key Botanical Characters. Annual herbs; stem erect, to 1.20 m high, rooting at lower nodes, branched above, obtusely 4-angular, villous-hirsute, often pale pink in upper parts. Leaves opposite,broadly ovate to suborbicular, rounded to truncate at base, obtuse or rounded, coarsely crenate-serrate, sparsely hirtellous on both surfaces, thick, with prominent nerves beneath forming reticulate depressions dotted with amber-coloured oil globules; petioles to 4 cm long. Panicles terminal, 12-40 cm long; verticils lax; peduncles slender, hirtellous with gland-tipped hairs. Floral leaves sublunar, to 5 x 7 mm, concave, subacute. Pedicels 2-3 mm long, hirtellous. Calyx tube 1.25 mm long, 10-nerved, dotted with oil globules; upper lip broadly ovate,  abruptly acute, subdecurrent on tube, deflexed over mouth of calyx after anthesis; lower lip 2.25 mm long, lateral lobes triangular-ovate, median ones lanceolate, longer than laterals, acuminate. Corolla 8-10 mm long, pale blue; tube 4-5 mm long, finely pubescent with gland-tipped hairs, whitish; upper lip 4 mm long, shallowly lobed, dotted at back with oil globules; lower lip orbicular,  finely pubescent. Style glabrous. Nutlets globose.