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Indian Toadflax
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Indian Toadflax
P Native Photo: Thingnam Girija
Common name: Indian Toadflax, Branched Cancerwort, Branched Fluellen • Hindi: Khunger booti • Marathi: बाणवेल Banwel
Botanical name: Nanorrhinum ramosissimum    Family: Plantaginaceae (Plantain family)
Synonyms: Linaria ramosissima, Kickxia ramosissima

Indian Toadflax is a wild Indian cousin of the common garden flower Toadflax. It is a prostrate perennial herb, 1-3 ft long, branched from the base. Leaves are arranged oppositely below and alternately above. They are 1-4 cm long, variable in breadth. They are arrow-shaped, or triangular 5-7 lobed. Stalks are filament-like. Yellow flowers occur singly in leaf axils on 1-3 cm long, filament-like stalks. They are 1-1.5 cm across, 2-lipped, shaped like dog flowers, with a 4 mm long spur. Commonly found in rock cervices and old walls in the Wester Ghats and the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Bhutan, at altitudes of 1200-2600 m.
Medicinal uses: The whole plant is dried under shade and is ground to made powder. This powder is prescribed for treatment of diabetes by rural folks.

Identification credit: Tabish Photographed in Chamba, Uttarakhand.

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