Kirantinayakam / Way-Side Tuberose
Ruellia tuberosa
Also known as Meadow Weeds, Minnieroot, Waterkanon
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
How to identify Kirantinayakam
Identify Kirantinayakam 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.
- Confirm leaf surface: Pubescent (softly hairy).
- Confirm flower colour: Purple.
- Confirm fruit type: Capsule.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: Throughout the year.
- In India, compare location records such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Telangana and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Acanthaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Kirantinayakam.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Ruellia tuberosa
- Genus
- Ruellia
- Family
- Acanthaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Native to
- Tropical America
- Distribution
- Tropical America, Malaysia, India
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry, Uttarakhand
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf surface
- Pubescent (softly hairy)recorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Opposite
Characters marked “recorded” are for Kirantinayakam itself; the rest are typical of the Acanthaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- PurplerecordedPurple or violet
- Fruit type
- CapsulerecordedA dry fruit from a fused ovary that splits open at maturity to release seeds.“Its fruit is a 2 cm (0.8 in) long sessile capsule containing about 20 seeds.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Spike
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Kirantinayakam itself; the rest are typical of the Acanthaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Nepali
- बहुमूल Bahumool
- Bengali
- পটপটি Patapati, পটপটি ফুল
- Tamil
- கிரந்திநாயகம் Kirantinayakam, பட்டாசுக்காய் Pattacukkay, உரூலியா டுயூபரோசா
- Malayalam
- ശിവകരന്ത Shivakarantha, ശിവകരന്ത
- Marathi
- रुवेल Ruwel
About Kirantinayakam
Way-side Tuberose (Ruellia tuberosa) is a herb in the Acanthaceae family. In India it has been recorded in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and 16 other states. It flowers and fruits through much of the year.
Acanthaceae
Acanthus family
Kirantinayakam belongs to the Acanthaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Acanthaceae familySnap it. Know it.
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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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