Netha Kina / Crested Cat Ears
Cyanotis cristata
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala & more
- Flowering
- July-November
How to identify Netha Kina
Identify Netha Kina by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Crested tufted flower heads (cat ears).
- Confirm flower colour: Blue.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: July-November.
- In India, compare location records such as Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Commelinaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Netha Kina.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Cyanotis cristata
- Genus
- Cyanotis
- Family
- Commelinaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Grasslands, degraded forest areas and wastelandS
- Distribution
- Ethiopia, Socotra, Mauritius, China, Indo-Malesia and introduced in Caribbean islands
- Found in India
- Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Puducherry
- Flowering & fruiting
- July-November
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (LC)
Leaf characters
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Typical of the Commelinaceae family — a field-mark hint, not measured for this exact species.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Bluerecorded
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Cyme
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Netha Kina itself; the rest are typical of the Commelinaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Nepali
- सानो काने Saano Kaane, काने झार
- Tamil
- வழுக்கை புல்
- Telugu
- Netha kina
- Malayalam
- കുടുമനീലി
- Marathi
- नभाळी Nabhali, नभाळी
About Netha Kina
Crested Cat Ears (Cyanotis cristata) is a herb in the Commelinaceae family. In India it has been recorded in Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and 16 other states. It grows in grasslands, degraded forest areas and wastelandS. Flowering and fruiting run from July to November.
Commelinaceae
Spiderwort Family
Netha Kina belongs to the Commelinaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Commelinaceae familySnap it. Know it.
Point your camera at Netha Kina or any plant and SASYA identifies it instantly — on-device, offline, and private.
Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
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