MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC CROPS (2+1)

Description of the plant

PatcholiPatchouli is an erect, branched, pubescent herb, 0.5 to 1.0 m high and aromatic when crushed. The leaves are ovate to oblong-ovate, coarse, simple or doubly crenate-serrate, on both surfaces more or less densely tomentose, the glands are dotted beneath, up to 12 cm by 10 cm. The petiole is 6-8 cm; the stem is densely tomentose and swollen on the nodes; the spikes are terminal and axillary, panicled, dense, sometime interrupted, 2.5-14 cm long. The calyx is 5-6.5 mm; the corolla lobes are obtuse, 6-9 mm, pink, purple or white-violet blotched on all segments: The filaments are violet, with the bracts as long as the calyx. Flowering takes place from January to February in India, Malaya and Philippines. In Java, it is never found flowering.