Pilea melastomoides (Poir.) Wedd.

 
  • Family : URTICACEAE
    (Nettle Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : BICHCHHOO FAMILY (बिच्छू फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Urticaceae
  • Basionym : Urtica melastomoides Poir
  • Synonym(s) : Pilea trinervia (Roxb.) Wight; Urtica trinervia Roxb.
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Pilea melastomoides (Poir.) Wedd.
  • Vernacular name :
    • Dongorbhori (Telugu)
    • Narali (Malayalam)
  • Habit : Undershrub
  • Habitat : Tropical evergreen forests, Shola, also in valleys near streams.
  • Comments / notes : Often on hills above 1200m, in sholas, often by stream banks.
  • Flower, Fruit : April-December
  • Collector(s) Name : R. Raghavendra Rao; Raja K. Swamy, Noel Sebastian
  • Collection Date : 23-11-2018
  • Collection Nos : R.R. Rao 1608; HJCB-1756
  • Collection Locality : B.R. Hills, Kethedevaragudi, Chamarajanagar district (KA); Devikulam, Idukki, Kerala
  • Distribution :
    • Andhra Pradesh : Visakhapatnam district
    • Karnataka : Chikkamagaluru district, Kolar district, Mysuru district, Hassan district
    • Kerala : Kannur district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Kottayam district, Pathanamthitta district, Kollam district, Thiruvananthapuram district, Wayanad district
    • Odisha : Koraput district
    • Tamil Nadu : Kolli Hills (Namakkal district), Shevaroy Hills (Salem district), Coimbatore district, Dindigul district, Kanyakumari district, The Nilgiri district, Theni district, Tirunelveli district
  • Native : India, Sri Lanka, Java
  • World Distribution : India, Sri Lanka, Malay Islands
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • Literature :
    • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3
    • R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District
    • N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka
    • Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983
    • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
    • Cecil J. Saldanha, S. R. Ramesh (1984). Flora of Karnataka State vol. 1. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi
    • Rao & Razi, 1981 – A Synoptic Flora of Mysore District
    • Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1987). Flora of Tamilnadu, India vol. 2
    • Herbarium specimen from Devikulam, Idukki, Kerala (not scanned)
  • Read more :
  • Permalink : http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Pilea melastomoides
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Flora Online. http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Pilea melastomoides. Downloaded on 30 January 2026.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)

Habitat

Distribution District wise

India Distribution

World Distribution

Creative Commons License
India Flora Online by Herbarium JCB is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.