Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal

 
  • Family : SOLANACEAE
    (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY OR BRINJAL FAMILY)
  • Family (as per The Plant List) : Solanaceae
  • Species : Withania somnifera
  • Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal
  • Common name : Winter Cherry
  • Vernacular name : Ashwagandh, Asgandh (Hin.); Ashwagandha, Hiremuddina gida (Kan.); Karappaan thazhai, Amukkilaa chedi (Tam.); Aswagandha, Pennerugadda, Pulivendrum, Panneru vajigandha (Tel.); Asvagandha (San.)
  • Key identification features : A branched hairy undershrub. Leaves are ovate, covered by soft hairs on both sides. Flowers are greenish-yellow and axillary in small clusters. Fruit is a red berry enclosed by a thin persistent sepal.
  • Habit : Undershrub
  • Flower, Fruit : April-December
  • Native : Indo-Africa
  • Comments : Occasional in cultivated fields, wastelands and on hill slopes. Plant extracts used in native medicine.
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • Distribution Locality : Throughout Eastern Ghats
  • World Distribution : Mediterranean, Canary Islands, Africa, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka
  • Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2011 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 4; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 2; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983.
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Arun Singh R., Deepak Kumar, Raja K Swamy and Navendu Page (2016). Digital Flora of Eastern Ghats. http://easternghats.ces.iisc.ernet.in/plants.php?name=Withania somnifera. Downloaded on 28 September 2024.

Description

Line Drawings

Field Images

Comments

All fields are required






 
Creative Commons License
Digital Flora of Eastern Ghats by Herbarium JCB is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://easternghats.ces.iisc.ernet.in.