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 2 April 2025.

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.