Indian Wishbone Flower - Torenia cordifolia

Common Name :	Indian Wishbone Flower
Botanical Name :	Torenia cordifolia, Torenia Indica
Family :	Linderniaceae(False Pimpernel family)

There are lot of flowers having similarities with this one. All are called commonly as Wishbone flower. Botanical name of today's flower is Torenia cordifolia from the plant family Linderniaceae. This flower is also known as "Heart Leaf Torenia" for it's heart shaped(though ovate) leafs.

Wishbone flower is an annual herb plant that grows lower to the ground. This plant sprawls and branches quickly. Flowers for this article are blue/violet-blue in color. Wishbone flower use to have liner bracts. It's flower is somewhat tubular having four petals where the petals are having upper and lower lips.

Leaf of this plant is an interesting one. I have seen multiple colored leafs on mountain. Pure green leafs, slight purple leaf, and finally green leaf having purple at borders. Leafs are having toothed at the margins. Shape of the leaf is ovate, heart, etc. Leafs are arranged oppositely around the stem.

It is a weed flower but never reported as invasive. This is widely available at our country. Flower use to bloom during the time around rainy season. Other flowers which are similar to this one are very tiny and people overlook that. But this one is slight larger and hard to ignore.

Photos of this article were taken from Bandarban(বান্দরবান) during August 2012.

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