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CLASSIFICATION

ORDER	:  Lamiales
FAMILY	:  Acanthaceae
GENUS	:  Ruellia L.
SPECIES	:  tuberosa L.
BOTANICAL NAME	:  Ruellia tuberosa L.
SYNONYMS	:  Ruellia picta Lodd.
COMMON NAME	:  Waterkanon, Minnie root, popping pod.
TAMIL NAME	:  Tapas kaaya.
HINDI NAME	:  ---

PLANT DESCRIPTION

HABIT :  An erect, perennial herb with a cluster of tuberous roots.

STEM :  Erect, ascending or diffuse, branched, quadrangular, deeply grooved, pubescent in younger parts, glabrous in older, greenish to dark-purple.

LEAVES :  Obovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, glabrous, dark-green, sub-acute or rounded at apex, attenuated at base, minutely hairy on both the sides.

INFLORESCENCE :  Axillary cymes.

FLOWER :  Blue or purplish-blue, pedicellate, greenish to dark-purple, slightly pubescent, grooved.Calyx persistent, pubescent. Corolla slightly pubescent outside.

FRUIT :  Capsules cylindrical, shortly beaked, encircled by persistent sepals, green at first and finely changing to brownish.Seeds many, semicircular, pointed at one end, flat, with hairs which are extremely hygroscopic.

FLOWERING AND FRUITING TIME :  July – May.

MEDICINAL USES

In folk medicine and Ayurvedic medicine it has been used as a diuretic, anti-diabetic, antipyretic, analgesic, antihypertensive, gastroprotective, and to treat gonorrhea.

Root and leaf used for alleviating urinary retention.

In India leaf juice applied to scorpion bite sites.

IMAGES

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