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Cymbopogon flexuosus (Nees ex Steud.) Wats.
Synonym
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Cymbopogon flexuosus var. arunachalis
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Family
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Poacea
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Local name
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English- Ginger
Grass
Malayalam- Inchipullu
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Flowering and fruiting
period
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November-January
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Distribution
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India
and South East Asia
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Distribution in Kerala
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All Districts
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Habitat
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Deciduous
forests and grasslands, also in the plains
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Uses
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It possesses
various pharmacological activities such as anti-amoebic, antibacterial,
antidiarrheal, antifilarial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties.
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Key botanical
characters:
Perennial
herbs; culms 80-240 cm high, tufted; nodes glabrous. Leaves 20-80 x 1-2 cm,
linear, rounded at base, flat; sheaths glabrous; ligule ovate, membranous.
Inflorescence a large complex greyish panicle; branches slender, flexuous,
often drooping. Racemes paired, with a spatheole beneath. Spikelets binate,
one sessile, other pedicelled. Sessile spikelets 4-5 mm long,
elliptic-lanceolate. Lower glume c. 3 x 1 mm, elliptic-lanceolate, keels
winged towards apex; upper glume ovate-lanceolate, margins ciliate; lower
floret empty. Upper floret bisexual; first lemma 2.5-3 x 1 mm, lanceolate,
purplish, epaleate; second lemma c. 2 x 0.4 mm, deeply 2-fid, awned, hyaline,
awn 6-10 mm. Stamens 3, anthers 1-2 mm long. Ovary c. 1 mm, oblong, stigmas
1-1.5 mm long. Caryopsis c. 2 mm long, elliptic. Pedicelled spikelets 3-4 mm
long, lanceolate; pedicels c. 2 mm long, densely villous; lower glume c. 3 x
1 mm, ovate-lanceolate; upper glume c. 3 x 1 mm, elliptic-lanceolate; lower
floret male; upper floret wanting; first lemma c. 3 x 1 mm,
elliptic-lanceolate. Stamens 3, anthers 1.5-2 mm long.
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