Clitoria ternatea L.
ശംഖുപുഷ്പം


Family: LEGUMINOSAE
Sub-Family: Subfam.: Papilionoideae
English Name: Clitoria
Synonym: Clitoria ternatea var.ternateaL.
Common Name: Aaral, Kakkanamkoti, Malayamukki
Flowering & Fruiting Period: July-October
Distribution: Widely cultivated in the tropics, probably native of South America
Habitat: Grown in the gardens, also runs wild
Uses: Ornamental garden plant
Key Characteristics: Slender twiners. Leaves odd-pinnate; leaflets broadly elliptic, ovate or obovate, base cuneate to rounded, apex obtuse to rounded. Flowers solitary, axillary. Calyx tube pubescent; lobes acuminate. Petals blue or white, clawed; standard petal obovate, emarginate; wings oblong, falcate, adnate to keel; keels obovate, incurved. Stamens diadelphous; filaments unequal. Ovary pubescent; style curved, apex dilated. Pods linear, compressed, apically beaked. Seeds many, 5-7 mm long, compressed, reniform, black.