Natural History: A sub-shrub commonly found in the oriental region (POWO, 2022). Often cultivated in gardens for its dark coloured Willow tree-like leaves. Small white flowers borne on terminal spikes from January to April (WFO, 2022). It is called as Gandharasa in Sanskrit and used in Ayurvedic medicines (Flowers of India, 2022).
References:
Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10:11495–11550. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3104.10.4.11495-11550.
WFO (2022): World Flora Online. Accessed on 20 Dec 2022. URL: http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000354532.
Flowers of India (2022). Accessed on 20 Dec 2022. URL: https://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Willow-Leaf%20Justicia.html.
POWO (2022): Plants of the World Online. Accessed on 20 Dec 2022. URL: https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/50766-1.
Kawthankar, N. 2024. Justicia gendarussa Burm.f. – Willow-Leaf Justicia. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/justicia-gendarussa, accessed 2024/12/11.