Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Literature for Asystasia gangetica
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999; Lorence & Wagner, 2020.
   Acanthaceae -- The Acanthus Family Bibliography
      Asystasia gangetica
General Information
DistributionNative to India, Malay Peninsula, and Africa, grown as a ground cover in many tropical and subtropical areas.
Habit
Perennial herb, procumbent or scandent; stems 0.5‒2 m long.
Leaves
Leaves petiolate; blade ovate to broadly ovate, 1.5‒4 cm wide, 2.5‒13 cm long, sparsely strigillose, especially on the veins, apex acute to acuminate, base acute to obtuse or subcordate; petiole 0.5‒4.5 cm long.
Flowers
Flowers subtended by small, linear to triangular bracts 1‒2 mm long; pedicel ca. 2 mm long; calyx lobes 5‒7 mm long; corolla pale blue to purple, occasionally white or tinged yellow, 3‒3.5 cm long, lobes spreading.
Fruit
Fruit clavate, 2‒3 cm long, with a short sterile beak 0.3‒0.4 cm long, bilobed by protrusion of the seeds, glandular puberulent.
Seeds
Seeds 4, irregularly orbicular, pale dull brown, surface rugose, 3‒4 mm in diameter, margin irregularly scalloped.
Chromosomes
2n = 26, 28, 44, 48, 50, 52.
Contributor
Nancy Khan