Common name: Dalhousie Blue Bells • Hindi: Machine mashian
Botanical name:Strobilanthes pentastemonoides var. dalhousieanaFamily:Acanthaceae (Acanthus family) Synonyms: Strobilanthes pentstemonoides var. dalhousieana, Strobilanthes dalhousianus, Goldfussia dalhousiana
Dalhousie Blue Bells is a nearly erect perennial
herb up to 3 ft tall, with young shoots hairy and woody rootstock. It
is can be easily confused with
Blue Trumpet Bush. Leaves are
nearly stalkless or sometimes the base narrowing into a, up to 2.5 cm
long, winged stalk. Leaf blade is elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 12-25 x
4-6.5 cm, hairy to hairless on both sides, base narrowed, margin
toothed, tip long-pointed. Flowers are dark blue to purple, about 3.5
cm long, in heads or condensed spikes. Bracts are small,
circular-oblong, about 7-8 mm long, falling off. Bracteoles are similar
to but smallar than bracts. Sepals are 5, unequal, linear-oblong, 7-8
mm long, the longest lobe about 1 cm long, glandular-hairy to almost
hairless, blunt, enlarged in fruit. Flowers are hairless, tube pale,
curved, limb about 1.5-1.8 cm across, with rounded lobes.
Stamen-filaments are hairless. Capsule is oblong, about 1.5 cm long,
glandular-velvet-hairy, 4-seeded. Seeds are ovate, about 4 mm long,
silky hairy. Dalhousie Blue Bells is found in the Himalayas, from
Pakistan to N. India, common at altitudes of 1800-2600 m. It flowers
annually, unlike some Strobilanthes which flower once in few
years. Flowering: July-October.
Identification credit: Alok Mahendroo
Photographed in Dhanaulti, Uttarakhand.
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The flower labeled Dalhousie Blue Bells is ...