Justicia betonica var. betonica L.

 
  • Family : ACANTHACEAE
    (Acanthus Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : ARUSA FAMILY (अडूसा फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Acanthaceae
  • Synonym(s) : Justicia betonica var. villosa C.B.Clarke
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Nicoteba betonica (L.) Lindau
  • Common name : White Shrimp plant, Squirrel Tail, Paper Plume
  • Vernacular name :
    • Tellantu, Tellarantu, Tella addasaramu, Velimungilu (Telugu)
    • Vellakurinji, Venkurinni, Paduthamara (Marathi)
  • Habit : Undershrub
  • Habitat : On plains above 900m, in thickets by stream banks, Tropical moist deciduous forests, Wastelands, Rocky areas near ravines or in hedges
  • Comments / notes : Often cultivated
  • Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
  • Distribution :
    • Andhra Pradesh : Throughout Andhra Pradesh
    • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
    • Maharashtra : Akola district
    • Tamil Nadu : Throughout
    • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
  • Native : Angola, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Old World tropics
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • Literature :
    • Pullaiah et al., 2011 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 4
    • Gamble, 1924. Fl. Pres. Madr. Vol. 2. pp. 1078
    • Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983
    • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
    • Kamble & Pradhan, 1988. Flora of Akola District, Maharashtra. Botanical Survey of India.
  • Read more :
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2025). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Justicia betonica var. betonica. Downloaded on 18 June 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Line Drawings

Field Image(s)

Habitat

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.