Peristrophe bivalvis (L.) Merr.
Family
Acanthaceae
Synonyms
Peristrophe tinctoria (Roxb.) Nees, Peristrophe roxburghiana (Schultes) Bremek.
Vernacular Names
| Malaysia | Noja. |
| Indonesia | Noja (Javanese). |
| Philippines | Deora (Bisaya), kaladuda (Lanao), taoda (Manobo). |
| Vietnam | Kim long nhuôm. |
Geographical Distributions
Peristrophe bivalvis is distributed from eastern India and Sri Lanka to central China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Java. It is (or was) cultivated in India (Bengal and Assam), the southern Philippines, and rarely in Java. Often the plant is semicultivated, as a relic of former cultivation.
Description
Peristrophe bivalvis is an erect, often much-branched herb that can grow up to 1 m tall and rarely up to 1.5 m. The stems are subquadrangular. They are usually swollen above the nodes, pubescent, especially apically, or nearly smooth.
The leaves are arranged opposite, membranaceous, ovate to lance-shaped or oblong, measuring 7-16 cm x 2.5-7.5 cm, wedge-shaped to rounded at the base, acuminate at apex, with entire or shallowly undulating margins, hairless above and sparingly pubescent beneath. The petiole is 0.5-3(-4) cm long.
The flowers are in terminal cymes, which are composed of 1-4 involucres where each involucre is with 2-6 flowers. Two of the flowers are large and with unequal bracts. The sepal is 3-7 mm long and with ordinary glandular hairs. The petals are 3.5-5 cm long, with long tortuous tube and with two-lipped, upside-down limb, pubescent outside, and reddish-violet but sometimes pale. There are 2 stamens that are inserted near the top of the petal tube and long-exserted while the filaments are retrorsely hirsute. The 2-lobed style is slender.
The fruit is a club-shaped to ellipsoid capsule, measuring 1.5-2 cm long, pubescent, and 2-valved with 2 orbicular and flat seeds per valve, which are slightly covered with warty protuberances.
Ecology / Cultivation
Peristrophe bivalvis is often found on cultivated lands, in thickets and coconut groves, probably often as a relic of cultivation. Under supposed natural conditions, it grows along watercourses in forests. In the Philippines, it is cultivated up to 1600 m altitude.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
- Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 3: Dye and tannin-producing plants.
