Common leucas - Leucas aspera

Common Name :	Common leucas.
Binomial Name :	Leucas aspera
Family :	Lamiaceae
Bangla Name :	Shetadrone, Dronpushpi.
Photo Taken :	Bangladesh

This small annual plant is seen near the dry lands around our paddy fields or around the roadsides. Grows as a bush and hard to notice it without any flowers. Flower uses to bloom mostly during March-April in Bangladesh. This plant is considered as a weed, but not invasive. It belongs to the plant family Lamiaceae (mint family), some says Labiatae. Its binomial name is Leucas aspera. Textbook name in Bangladesh is Shwetadrone, Dronapushpi, etc. English name is Common leucas.





Common Leucas (Leucas aspera) is a herbaceous plant having stems are sometimes woody near base. Leafs of this plant are slim and long in shape. Flowers are typical mint flower having upper and lower lips. Color of the flower is milk white. It has sweet nectar at the base of the flower. This plant propagates with its seeds. Lot of ants and other insects use to cull the honey from the flower and help the pollination.





This plant has several herbal medical uses. Also people uses its leafs as a vegetable. Taste is kinda bitter but I liked the fried leafs with rice.





Photos of this article were taken from Sonargaon of Narayanganj district. But this grows everywhere in Bangladesh. I took the photos during my tour of August 2011. In Bangladesh this is known as Shwetadrone (শ্বেতাদ্রোন), Dronapushpi (দ্রোনপুষ্পি), Modhu pushpi (মধু পুষ্পি), etc.


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