638

Heliotropium keralense Sivar. & Manilal

Family	:	Boraginaceae
Local name	:	Malayalam – Thelkkada
Flowering and fruiting period	:	March-May
Distribution	:	Southern Western Ghats (Kerala)
Distribution in kerala	:	Palakkad, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Malappuram, Kozhikkode, Thrissur
Habitat	:	Moist localities in fields, open wet places, disturbed forests and along the banks of water bodies
Endemic/Exotic		Endemic to Kerala
Uses	:	The plant has been widely used for centuries to treat warts, inflammations and tumours. Throughout tropical Africa it is used as an analgesic to ease rheumatic pain, as a diuretic and to treat numerous skin problems including yaws, urticaria, scabies, ulcers, eczema and impetigo.
Key Botanical Characters : Erect pubescent herbs upto 25 cm tall. Leaves upto 8 x 4 cm, ovate, abruptly narrowed and decurrent on petiole at base, margins flexuous, obtuse or acute at apex, sparsely strigose beneath on veins, glabrous above; petiole to 8 cm long. Flowers white in long, terminal, one-sided scorpioid, spiciform cymes upto 15 cm long. Calyx c. 2.5 mm long, lobes 5, subequal, persistant, bulbous-based hairy without. Corolla 3-4 mm long, villous; lobes 5, triangular, plicate. Stamens 5, included. Ovary 4-lobed, 4-loculed; ovules one per locule; stigma lobed, hemispheric. Fruit separating into 4 pyrenes. Seeds brownish-black.