Common name: Arni अर्नी(Hindi), Taggi gida (Kannada), Taluddai (Tamil)
Botanical name: Clerodendrum phlomidis Family: Verbenaceae (verbena family)
A fairly common shrub of arid plains, low hills, deserts of Sind, Punjab and
Baluchistan.
Shrubs 1.5-3 m tall, stem ashy-grey, branches pubescent. Leaves opposite,
ovate to rhomboid-ovate, 1.5-5 cm long, 1-3 cm broad, entire to
sinuate-crenate, subacute-obtuse; petiole up to 2.5 cm long.
Flowers creamy-white or pale yellowish, c. 1.5 cm across; pedicels 5-10 mm
long, densely hirsute; bracts ovate lanceolate. Calyx campanulate, glabrous,
pale or somewhat yellowish green, somewhat inflated, 5-lobed; lobes 4-5 mm
long, ovate-triangulate, Corolla-tube 2-2.5 cm long, much narrower than the
calyx, pubescent externally; lobes 5, subequal, ovate-elliptic, 7-8 mm long,
obtuse. Drupe obovoid, 8-12 mm long, black, wrinkled, usually 4-lobed,
enclosed by the persistent calyx; seeds oblong, white.
Distribution: Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Burma.
Medicinal uses:
Root is bitter tonic and given in convalescence of measles. Juice of leaves is
alterative and given in neglected syphilitic complaints.
The root is given as a demulcent in gonorrhoea, and decoction of the plant is
considered as an alterative. It helps cure stomach troubles and swellings in
cattle.
| Photographed in Garden of Five Senses, Delhi. |
Identification credit: Navendu Pagé
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