Synonym(s) : Goldfussia thomsonii Hook.; Pteracanthus alatus (Wall. ex Nees) Bremek.; Ruellia ampliata Edgew. ex Nees; Strobilanthes alata (Wall.) Nees; Strobilanthes atropurpurea var. wallichii (Nees) Kuntze; Strobilanthes latisepala Hemsl.
Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Strobilanthes wallichii
Common name : Kashmir Acanthus
Habit : Shrub
Habitat : Forest, Shrubberies
Key identification features : Flowers blue, in lax branched leafy clusters with leaf-like persistent bracts. Corolla-tube 2.5-4.5 cm, pale blue or nearly white, curved and broadly dilated from a short cylindrical base, and with dark blue or mauve rounded lobes spreading to 1.3-1.6 cm. Leaves 3-8 cm, elliptic long pointed, toothed, the lower stalked, the upper stalkless; stems weak, not soody, quadrangular, 15-60 cm. Capsule cylindrical to 2 cm, calyx-lobes lengthening to 2 cm in fruit.
Flower, Fruit : June-July
Distribution :
Kashmir : Kashmir
Native : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Taiwan, Tibet, Vietnam, West Himalaya
Exotic/Native : Native
Literature : Oleg P & Adam S (1984). Flowers of Himalaya. Oxford University Press: 1084