Orthosiphon thymiflorus
Orthosiphon thymiflorus, commonly called the thyme piccadill or thyme Java tea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is found across tropical Africa, in Madagascar, and in tropical Asia from Sri Lanka and peninsular India to China and Indonesia.
Description
This species is a perennial herb with a straggling habit, becoming somewhat shrubby with age, flowering early and developing a small rootstock with several ascending stems up to tall; not or only weakly aromatic. Stems are erect, square, usually well branched, and hairy, especially along the angles and towards the tips.Leaves are stalked, ovate to elliptic, mostly long, with toothed margins and variable hairiness, particularly along the veins beneath.
The inflorescence soon becomes lax, with small flower clusters spaced apart. The calyx is distinctive, purple on the upper side and green below, about long at flowering and elongating to in fruit.
The corolla is usually pink, occasionally white or mauve, long, with a straight tube and a hooded lower lip enclosing the stamens.
Nutlets are small, brown, broadly egg-shaped, about long, and produce a small amount of mucilage when wet.
Identification
Orthosiphon thymiflorus is closely related to Orthosiphon schimperi. In eastern Africa, the former species can be distinguished by, among other things, its calyx, the upper lip of which is purple, while the lower lip is green. The latter species has a calyx of a uniform purple–red.Some South African sources currently maintain Orthosiphon suffrutescens as a separate species, but most authorities consider it a synonym of Orthosiphon thymiflorus.