Common name: Marsh Carpet • Hindi: Sarapat • Marathi: रान तेवण Ran tewan
Botanical name: Hygrophila serpyllum Family: Acanthaceae (Barleria family)
Marsh Carpet is a small, often prostrate herb. Stems grow to 30 cm long.
Oppositely arranged elliptic leaves are 1-3 cm long. Flowers occur in a spike
of pairs of flowers, at the end of stems. Bluish purple flower is two-lipped.
The upper lip is short with two oblong lobes. The lower lip is 3-lobed, with
the middle lobe larger than the others, and also pointed. Gregariously found
in moist grasslands of Western Ghats.
| Photographed in Maharashtra. |
Identification credit: Ravi Vaidya
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