• Family : VIOLACEAE
  (Violet Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : RATHNAPURUSHA FAMILY (रत्नपुरुष फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : VIOLACEAE
• Basionym : Viola enneosperma L.
• Synonym(s) : Viola suffruticosa L.; Ionidium suffruticosum Ging.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Hybanthus enneaspermus (L.) F.Muell.
• Common name : Spade Flower
• Vernacular name : Ratan purush (Hindi); Purusharathna, Ratna purusha (Kannada); Orithal-thamarai, Orilaittamarai, Purusharatnam (Tamil); Nilakobari, Ratnapurusha (Telugu); Madan mastak, Madan mast (Oria); Rathan paras (Marathi); Orithalthamara (Malayalam)
• Habit : Herb
• Habitat : Dry deciduous forests and wastelands
• Comments / notes : Common in dry stony hills, across plains and waste places in Eastern Ghats. Whole plant is used as an aphrodisiac, diuretic and demulcent. Fruit is used in scorpion sting (Franklin & Murthy, 2013)
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Collector(s) Name : Arun Singh, Raja K. Swamy & Sankara Rao
• Collection Date : 26/11/2015
• Collection Nos : HJCB-E-300
• Collection Locality : Koundinya WLS, Chittoor district (AP)
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district, Chittoor district, Kadapa district, East Godavari district, Guntur district, Krishna district, Kurnool district, Nellore district, Prakasam district, Srikakulam district, Vishakapatnam district, Vizianagaram district, West Godavari district
  • Telangana : Nalgonda district, Khammam district, Mehboobnagar district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : All districts of Maharashtra
  • Odisha : Angul district, Balasore district, Bargarh district, Bolangir district, Boudh district, Cuttack district, Deogarh district, Dhenkanal district, Gajapati district, Ganjam district, Kalhandi district, Kandhamal district, Kendrapara district, Keonjhar district, Khurda district, Koraput district, Malkangiri district, Mayurbhanj district, Puri district, Rayagada district, Sambalpur district, Sundergarh district
  • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
• Native : Tropical Africa, Asia & Australia
• World Distribution : Africa, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, China, Hainan, Tropical Australia, New guinea
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1; J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 1; 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; Franklin Benjamin & G.V.S.Murthy, 2013. Flora of Sri Venkateswara National Park, Andhra Pradesh, BSI.; Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1.; M.R. Almeida (1996). Flora of Maharashtra vol.1.
• 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=Hybanthus enneaspermus. Downloaded on 3 June 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

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Field Image(s)