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Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng.

Synonym	:	Coleus amboinicus Lour.
Family	:	Lamiaceae
Local name	:	English - Indian borage, Country borage Malyalam  - Kanjikoorka, Kannikoorka
Flowering and fruiting period	:	January-March
Distribution	:	Widely cultivated throughout tropics
Distribution in Kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Grown in homesteads
Uses	:	Common home remedy for infantile cough, cold, fever and headache, stimulates liver function, useful in kidney and bladder stones.
Key botanical characters: Branched, pubescent herbs. Leaves fleshy. Flowers shortly pedicelled, in dense panicle. Calyx hispid, small, the upper lip ovate, acute, lower of 4 acuminate lobes, throat glabrous within. Corolla purple, 2-lipped, tube decurved. Stamens 4, didynamous; anther cells confluent. Ovary 4-partite; stigma 2-fid. Nutlets smooth.