Phyla nodiflora

• Botanical Name : Phyla nodiflora (L.) Greene
• Synonyms : Lippa nodiflora (L.) Michx
• Common Name : Frog Fruit, Turkey Tangle, Creeping Lip Plant, Jalbuti, Ratoliya
• Plant Family : Verbenaceae
• Plant Form : Herb
• Occurrence (Special Areas) : Indroda Park

About Phyla nodiflora Plant :

• Habit : A small, perennial herb with stems creeping and rooting at nodes, more or less square and hairy.
• Leaves : Small, opposite, spathulate, base cuneate, apex rounded, upper part deeply serrate, hairy.
• Inflorescence : Axillary globose heads which later on elongate and become spicate.
• Flowers :
  • Closed, bracteates, bracts elliptic or obovate.
  • Calyx deeply bilabiate, compressed, hairy.
  • Corolla white pale-blue, bilabiate, upper lip erect, bifid, the lower 3-lobed, the central lobe the largest. Stamens 4, didynamous, included.
  • Ovary 2-celled, ovules 2, stigma oblique. 
• Fruits : Drupe dry, splitting into 2, 1-seeded pyrenes.
• Flowering and Fruiting Time : Throughout the year.
• Significance : Generally found near moist places and river beds.