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Hedyotis verticillaris

Hedyotis verticillaris
Photo: L. Shyamal, CC BY-SA 2.5

Hedyotis verticillaris is a small rosette-forming herb in the coffee family, endemic to the high-altitude grasslands of the Nilgiris in southern India. Its stems are underground, and it is grown mainly by specialist collectors, so it is rarely cultivated.

Family
Rubiaceae (Coffee family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Part shade, Bright indirect
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist and let the rosette hold a little water at its centre, avoiding waterlogging.
Soil
Well-drained, humus-rich mix with some grit, such as peat-based compost with sand or perlite.
Temperature
12–24 °C; protect below 5 °C
How easy
Moderate
Native range
India (Kerala, Tamil Nadu))
Climate
wet tropical

About

Hedyotis verticillaris is a plant belonging to the family Rubiaceae that is endemic to the higher altitude grasslands of the Nilgiris in southern India. Unlike many others members of the genus the stems of this species are underground and the leaves appear close to the ground forming rosettes and usually hold some water at the centre of the whorl of leaves. The flowers are produced on a stalk.

The species has been sometimes placed under the genus Pleiocraterium as P. verticillare along with the species, P. plantaginifolium (Arn.) Bremek. from Sri Lanka, P. sumatranum Bremek. and P. gentianifolium Bremek., both of Sumatra. Molecular phylogenetic studies however have found this genus to nest within other representatives of the genus Hedyotis giving little support for a separate genus.

Other Hedyotis plants

Hedyotis articularis · Hedyotis indirae · Hedyotis lawsoniae · Hedyotis lessertiana · Hedyotis megalantha · Hedyotis purpurascens · Hedyotis scabridifolia · Starviolet

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hedyotis verticillaris by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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