''Rotheca serrata'', commonly known as the blue fountain bush, the blue-flowered glory tree or the beetle killer, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the family

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

. It is native to

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 ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Description

''Rotheca serrata'' is a small bush growing to a height of up to . The squarish stems are only sparsely branched. The young growth is

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

and the leaves are in opposite pairs or develop with three at a node. They are oval, serrated and hairless with an acute base and a stout petiole. The flowers are showy and develop in cymes which are covered with short, soft erect hairs. The individual flowers are small and form part of an erect pyramidal

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

up to long. The corolla of each flower is blue, cylindrical, hairless outside and hairy inside and the stamens arch out from it. The four upper lobes are flat and spreading while the lowest lobe forms a concave lip. The fruit is a four-lobed fleshy drupe, green at first and black when ripe.

Distribution

''Rotheca serrata'' is native to eastern India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia and is found in forests.

Uses

The plant is also used in

Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population repo ...

for snake bites.

Common names

*Hindi - Bharangi (भरंगी) *Manipuri - Moirang khanam (মোইরাংগ খানম) *Marathi - Bharangi (भरंगी) *Tamil - Sirutekku (சிறு தேக்கு) *Malayalam - Cherutekku *Telugu - Gantubarangi *Kannada - Gantabarangi *Gujarati - Bharangi (भरंगी)

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q3595077 Lamiaceae Flora of China Flora of tropical Asia