''Barleria cristata'', the Philippine violet, bluebell barleria or crested Philippine violet, is a

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

species in the family

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epiphytes. Only a few species are distributed in te ...

Distribution and habitat

It is native to a wide area ranging from

Southern China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. Cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

in villages and gardens, it has become naturalized in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, where it grows in dry habitats. In

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

, where it is known as ''"tombithi"'' and in

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

(Indian Ocean), the shrub grows also as a

ruderal A ruderal species is a plant species that is first to colonize disturbed lands. The disturbance may be natural for example, wildfires or avalanchesor the consequences of human activities, such as construction ( of roads, of buildings, mining, et ...

species along roadsides and disturbed areas from near sea level to about 100 m.

Description

It grows as a shrub 60 –100 cm tall. The leaves are dark green on the upper surface and pale green on the lower surface. They are elliptic to narrowly ovate. The flowers are about 5 cm long, funnel-shaped in violet, pink, or white color. The fruits are about 1.5 cm long ellipsoid capsules. They become glabrous and glossy at maturity.

Uses

Known as อังกาบ, this plant is used in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

as a traditional herbal remedy. It allegedly acts as a tonic, diuretic and blood purifier. To ensure intake of this plant, for medicinal purposes, is safe and nontoxic, studies were conducted on mice and found no side effects or death with fixed amount of dosage: 250g/kg dosage. In

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

, it is known as December Flower as it blooms in December and is normally strung into garlands of flowers for women to wear in their hair. In

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

the flowers are called Decembaralu(plural), In

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

it is known as December Poo.

Gallery

File:Barleria cristata in Narshapur forest, AP W IMG 0865.jpg, in

Narsapur, Medak district Narsapur is a census town in Medak district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is located in Narsapur mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It ...

File:Barleria cristata in Narshapur forest, AP W IMG 0862.jpg, in

File:Barleria cristata in Narshapur forest, AP W IMG 0858.jpg, in

File:Barleria cristata W IMG 2900.jpg, at

Ananthagiri Hills Ananthagiri Hills is located in Vikarabad district, Telangana, India. The water flows from these hills to Osman Sagar, also known as Gandipet lake, and Himayathsagar. It is one of the dense forests in Telangana. Ananthagiri Temple is locat ...

, in

Rangareddy district Ranga Reddy district ( R. R. district) is a district in the Indian state of Telangana. The district headquarters is located at Lakdikapool, Hyderabad. The district was named after the former deputy chief minister of the United Andhra Pradesh, K ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. File:Barleria cristata W IMG 2899.jpg, at

, in

. File:Pollens of Barleria cristata 2.jpg, Pollens of Barleria cristata at

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

File:Barleria cristata in Florida.jpg, Barleria cristata growing wild in central

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

References

cristata Flora of the Philippines Flora of Pakistan Flora of the Pacific Flora of Nepal Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Acanthaceae-stub