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Chinese Trumpet Flower
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Chinese Trumpet Flower
ative Photo: Krishan Lal
Common name: Chinese Trumpet Flower • Chinese: 两头毛 Liang tou mao • Nepali: मरुवा पाती Maruwa paati
Botanical name: Incarvillea arguta    Family: Bignoniaceae (Jacaranda family)
Synonyms: Amphicome arguta, Incarvillea diffusa

Chinese Trumpet Flower is a sub-shrub with fern-like foliage and penstemon-like tubular flowers of pallid pink. It grows up to 1.5 m tall. Leaves are alternate, 1-pinnately compound, not clustered at stem base, about 15 cm long, leaflets 5-11, ovate-lanceshaped, 3-5 x 1.5-2 cm, pale green and hairless below, dark green and velvet-hairy above, base broadly wedge-shaped, unequal, margin toothed, tip long pointed. Pink flowers are borne in racemes. Bracts are subulate, about 3 mm, bractlets less than 1.5 mm. Sepal cup is bell-shaped, 5-8 mm, teeth needle-like, 1-4 mm, base triangular, not enlarged into glands. Flowers are pale red or purple-red, or pink, bell- or funnel-shaped, about 4 x 2 cm. Tube is 1.8-2.2 cm. Stamens adherent. Capsule is linear, round leathery, about 20 cm. Chinese Trumpet Flower is found in the Himalayas, from Kumaun to Nepal, Assam, E. Tibet and W. China, at altitudes of 1800-3500 m. Flowering: March-July.
Medicinal uses: The Chinese Yi medicine Liangtoumao, which originated from the whole plant of Incarvillea arguta, has been widely used by the Yi ethnic group to prevent and treat alcohol-induced liver injury and other liver diseases.

Identification credit: Krishan Lal Photographed in Sirmaur Distt, Himachal Pradesh.

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