• Family : URTICACEAE
  (Nettle Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BICHCHHOO FAMILY (बिच्छू फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : URTICACEAE
• Basionym : Urtica diversifolia Link
• Synonym(s) : Girardinia zeylanica Decne.; Girardinia heterophylla Decne; Girardinia leschenaultiana Decne.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Girardinia diversifolia (Link) Friis
• Common name : Nilghiri nettle
• Vernacular name : Vrischika (Sanskrit); Awa, Alla, Bichua (Hindi); Aanachoriyanam, Aanachenthotti, Choriyanam, Chenthotti, Kuttithoova (Malayalam)
• Habit : Undershrub
• Habitat : Evergreen, semi-evergreen, deciduous, also in shola forests and waste places
• Comments / notes : Bristles on the plant are stinging and cause skin irritation.
• Flower, Fruit : October-March
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Chittoor district, Vishakapatnam district
  • Karnataka : Ballari district, Chikkamagaluru district, Dakshina Kannada district, Hassan district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Mysuru district, Shivamogga district, Udupi district, Uttara Kannada district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Odisha : Cuttack district
  • Tamil Nadu : Alagar Hills (Madurai district), Kolli Hills (Namakkal district), Shevaroy Hills, Kalrayan Hills, Bodamalai Hills (Salem district), Pachamalai Hills (Tiruchirapalli district), Chitteri Hills, Yelagiri Hills (Vellore district), Sirumalai Hills (Dindigul district), Dharmapuri Hills, Theerthamalai Hills (Dharmapuri district), Piranmalai Hills (Sivaganga district), Gingee Hill (Villipuram district), Javadu Hills (Tiruvannamalai district), Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary (Theni district)
• Native : Paleotropics, Indo-Malay
• World Distribution : India, Sri Lanka, Himalayas, Myanamar, China, Malaysia
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Yoganarasimhan, SN., Subramanyam and Razi, BA (1981). Flora of Chikmagalur District, Karnataka. Intl, Book Distri., Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, India; Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Flora of Hassan district, Karnataka; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Ravichandran, V. 2016. Taxonomic and Phytogeographical investigation on endemic plants of Western Ghats with special reference to Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary of Tamil Nadu (Ph.D. thesis work); Pullaiah, 1997. Flora of Andhra Pradesh, vol. 3.
• 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=Girardinia diversifolia. Downloaded on 21 November 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)