Anisomeles indica (L.) Kuntze

Herbaceous or shrubby, 0.5-2 m. Stem and branches acutely 4-angled, sparingly hairy to densely pubescent. Leaves thin-to thick-membranaceous, ovate to broadly ovate, 4.5-6 by 3-3.5 cm, acute, crenate-serrate, base rounded or truncate, hirsute or woolly on both surfaces, sub-cordate, less often shortly cuneate, entire, sometimes almost pinnatifid; petiole 1.5-4 cm, tomentose. Flowers usually numerous (over 20), in a dense verticillaster, the whorls distant below, approximate above in a dense spicate inflorescence, rarely very few-flowered with solitary flowers in the leaf-axils. Bracts linear, 3-4 mm, pilose. Calyx campanulate, 5-7 mm long, in fruit 9-10 mm, shortly pedicelled, hirsute and pilose; teeth lanceolate, acute, almost as long as the tube, ciliate. Corolla greenish to whitish, with dark reddish lines inside, sometimes purple or blue, tubular, 15-18 mm long. Filaments hirsute. Nutlets broadly ovoid, 1.8-2 by 1.4-1.5 mm, subcompressed, black.

Sunny and open locations, grasslands, also in teak forests, and on wet soils along streams and irrigated rice fields, usually scattered, sometimes locally numerous, at elevations of 600-1800 metres.

Uses. According to RIDLEY (l.c.) this is an excellent plant for hive bees. HEYNE (1927) mentions that in Java a decoction of the leaves is internally used for gravel, and in the Philippines it is said to be antirheumatic and stomachic, and good for gastric catarrh and intermittent fever (QUISUMBING, l.c.). The leaves would contain a volatile oil and a bitter alkaloid. In Malaya the plant is commonly used in cakes of sago ( BURK. Dict. 1935 160 ). From Sumba reported to be a fetid herb with aromatic-scented flowers.

Can be grown by seedlings.