• Family : COMMELINACEAE
  (Spiderwort Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : KANA FAMILY (काना फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : COMMELINACEAE
• Basionym : Commelina cristata L.
• Synonym(s) : Tradescantia cristata (L.) L.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Cyanotis cristata (L.) D.Don
• Common name : Crested Cat Ears
• Vernacular name : Nabhali (Malayalam); Eggoli Telugu)
• Habit : Herb
• Habitat : Grasslands, degraded forest areas and wastelandS
• Comments / notes : In marshy, damp and shaded places. Occasional on hills above 1000m, less in plains and foothills
• Flower, Fruit : July-November
• Collector(s) Name : Raja K. Swamy; Raja K. swamy & Arun Singh
• Collection Date : 15-11-2014; 13-09-2014
• Collection Nos : HJCB-E-243; HJCB-0044
• Collection Locality : Batrepalli forest, Anantpur district (AP); Jamunamarthur, Tiruvannamalai district (TN)
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Common in forests
  • Karnataka : Kolar district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : All districts of Maharashtra
  • Odisha : Common
  • Tamil Nadu : Hills above 1000m
• World Distribution : Ethiopia, Socotra, Mauritius, China, Indo-Malesia and introduced in Caribbean islands
• Conservation Status : Least Concern (LC)
• Literature : J.L.Ellis, 1990- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 2; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. ; B. D. Sharma, S. Karthikeyan & N. P. Singh 1996 - Flora of Maharashtra state - Monocotyledons Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Pullaiah, 1997. Fl. Andhra Pradesh, vol. 3. pp. 1006; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Cyanotis cristata. Downloaded on 3 April 2025.

Botanical Description

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