Common name: Blue Fox Tail, Blue Justicia • Bengali: Neel Kantha • Hindi: udajati • Kannada: kappubobbuli, kappukuruni • Malayalam: karinkurinni, kuranta • Marathi: dhakta adulsa, Ranaboli. Ekboli • Sanskrit: nila-sahacharah • Tamil: Nilambari • Telugu: chikatiquratappa, nakkatoka
Botanical name: Ecbolium linneanum Family: Acanthaceae (Ruellia family) Synonyms: Justicia ecbolia
Blue Fox Tail is a shrubby plant, with 4-sided
flower-spikes at the end of
branches. Bracts are oval, entire, mucronate. Leaves are elliptic-oblong,
narrowed at both ends, velvety. Flowers are large, greenish blue. Upper lip
of the flower is linear, reflexed. Blue Fox Tail is found in Mumbai and
Konkan region.
Medicinal uses: Plant is used in gout and dysuria; decoction
of leaves for stricture. Roots are given in jaundice, menorrhagia and
rheumatism.
| Photographed in Vile Parle, Mumbai. |
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