Bark
Greyish-brown, rough, conspicuously warted or scabrous-tubercled; stems sub-quadrangular when young, becoming thick, woody, and hollow-stemmed with age.
Strobilanthes callosa
Syn. Carvia callosa
IUCN Red List
Not Evaluated
(NE)
Local name
- Karvi (Gujarati)
- Karvi (Konkani)
Shrub type
Evergreen
Deciduous
Family: Acanthaceae
5m
Indicated uses
Medicinal
Edible
Ornamental
Avenue
Other
Flowering & fruiting
Flowering
Fruiting
Key characters
Leaves
Opposite, large, 15–30 cm long, broadly elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, margins crenate-serrate, rough and scabrid on upper surface with conspicuous lineolate cystoliths, 8–16 pairs of lateral veins; aromatic when bruised.
Flower
Borne in dense axillary and terminal strobiliform spikes (3–10 cm long); corolla tubular-ventricose, 4–5 cm long, bright purplish-blue to violet or pinkish-purple; bracts broad, pale green turning viscous-glandular and strongly scented after pollination.
Fruit / Seeds
Capsule, compressed, obovate-oblong, 1.5–2 cm long, containing 2 large flat seeds densely covered with white inelastic adpressed hairs; pods dehisce explosively with the onset of rains.
Did you know?
It is a monocarpic plant, reproducing only once in its lifetime.
Distribution
India