Fox Tail flower - Acalypha hispida

Common Name :	Red Hot Cat's Tail, Fox Tail, Philippines Medusa.
Botanical Name :	Acalypha hispida
Family :	Euphorbiaceae
Bangla Name :	Shib jota.
Photo Taken :	Bangladesh, India

Local name for this flowering plant in Bangladesh is Shiv Jhul, Shiv Jota, etc. This is from the plant family Euphorbiaceae. It has several common names around the world such as Red Hot Cat's Tail, Fox Tail, Philippines Medusa, Chenile Plant, etc. It looks like a tail of a cat and possibly it's the reason for having such names. Botanical name of the plant is Acalypha hispida.

Acalypha hispida is a shrubby type plant having a bit larger leafs. Flowers look like a tail of a cat and bright red in color (sometimes purple). With proper sunlight, that tail can grow longer and brighter and uses to sustain for a longer period at the tree. This plant propagates through the cutting of leafs and stems (slightly hard to grow properly from seeds). The whole plant is poisonous if somehow ingested inside.





Photos of Fox tail (Acalypha hispida) were taken from the following locations. In Bangladesh this is known as Shib jota (শিবজটা).
1. Bashabo Buddha Mondir, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
2. September 2018, Kolkata Botanical Garden, India.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icflora.blogspot.com/