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Creeping Cradle Plant
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Creeping Cradle Plant
ative Photo: Dinesh Valke
Common name: Creeping Cradle Plant • Hindi: काना Kana • Marathi: बेचका Bechka • Tamil: Vazhukai pul • Telugu: Golla gundi, Kodi kalu • Kannada: Negalu kanne soppu
Botanical name: Cyanotis axillaris    Family: Commelinaceae (Dayflower family)
Synonyms: Amischophacelus axillaris, Tonningia axillaris, Tradescantia axillaris

Creeping Cradle Plant is a creeping succulent herb, 15-45 cm, with erect tops. Stalkless, narrow, linear-lancelike leaves are 5-15 cm long. Violet blue flowers are 5-6 mm across, couched in inflated sheaths in each leaf axil. Petals are broadly ovate and the filaments are bearded with long blue hairs, which give the flowers a hairy appearance. It is a common weed of cultivations in the slopes and plains of the Western Ghats. It is found throughout India, up to Eastern Himalayas. Flowering: August-October.

Identification credit: Dinesh Valke Photographed in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai.

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