Occurrence (Special Areas) : Indroda Park, Ayurvedic Udyan, Van Chetana Kendra, Aranya Van
About Barleria cuspidata Plant :
Habit : Anerect bushy, 60-75 cm tall spiny branched shrub.
Stem : Stems and branches terete or obscurely tetragonous, glabrous.
Leaves : Sub-sessile, 3.2-7 by 1.5-3.2cm, lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, bristle-tipped, entire, densely lineolate, glabrous, pale beneath, with long divaricate slender spines often reaching 1 in. long in the axils.
Inflorescence : Solitary in opposite axils.
Flowers :
Bright-yellow, culminating into short, terminal spikes, bracteates.
Calyx glabrous, somewhat leathery, divided nearly to the base; outer sepals lanceolate from a broad base, long-acuminate,spinous-tipped, parallel-nerved inside, lateral sepals linear-lanceolate, acute, half in. long.
Corolla yellow, somewhat bilipped; upper lip of 4 obovate acute lobes; the lower lip rather shorter than the upper, obovate, acute, entire.
Fertile stamens exerted beyond the corolla-tube; filaments flattened, those of the staminodes very short.
Fruit : Capsule, 1.2-1.8 cm long, ovoid with a solid beak.
Seeds : 2, orbicular, compressed, hairy.
Flowering and FruitingTime : August-November.
Significance :
It is used for various medicinal purposes in ayurvedic medicine.
The juice of the leaves is applied to feet to prevent maceration and cracking in the monsoon season.
