Lamiaceae

Mint Family

Ajuga lobata D. Don

Lobed-leaf Bungle weed

Nepali: 

A low creeping plant with lobed leaves and erect flowering stems. Flowers are pale blue to purple with lobes. Flowers from late April through August depending on the elevation. It is found in the eastern Himalayas. 

Scutellaria scandens D. Don

Climbing Skull Cap

Nepali: Chaarpaate or Kaankarne

A tall spike with tiny skull-shaped flowers that are pale yellow with lilac lips. The 2-2.5cm flowers are hood-shaped. The leaves are ovate-lancelike and toothed. They grow in dense shrubby areas along the Phulchowki road appearing in March and blooming through May. They are found at mid-elevations from 1200-2400m.

Scutellaria discolor Colebr.

Bicolor Skullcap

Nepali: Daamapaate or Nilo Bhutee Ghaas

The swirl of leaves at the base of the flower spike is wrinkled and oval-shaped. The flowers bunched at the top of the spike. They have an upper hood that is a beautiful periwinkle blue with a lower white lip. They grow at middle elevations on Phulchowki road below rocky surfaces. They were flowering in August and September.

MEDICINAL uses: Juice of the plant is applied to wounds between the toes from prolonged walking barefoot in muddy water during the rainy season. Juice from the root is used to treat indigestion and gastric upset.

Leucas decemdentata (Willd.) Sm.

Forest Leucas

Nepali: Dhusure Kar

This small herb was flowering near the earthquake monitoring station on Phulchowki. The white flowers are very similar to common Leucas the ovate leaves with serrated edges are different. The flowers have a long lower lip and grow in whorls around the nodes above paired leaves. It is found in the Himalayas and grows between 1700 and 3200m. 

Isodon repens (Wall. ex Benth.) Murata

Repens Isodon

Nepali:

This plant has very tiny flowers that made it difficult to photograph. It has large ovate leaves clustered at the base with the flowers on a stalk. It was on a rocky ledge at an elevation of 2500 to 2700m on Phulchowki. It is found across the Himalayas.

Isodon lophanthoides var. 

Crested Flower Isodon

Nepali: Masino Chepte or Masino Chaarapaate

There are many Isodon herbs growing on Phulchowki. Many clusters of tiny pretty white flowers with dark pink freckles on the lip are borne on multi-branched stems. They are found in the Western Ghats and Himalayas.

 

Isodon pulchokiensis (Murata) H. Hara

Pulchok Isodon

Nepali:

This is an endemic mint found on Phulchowki and nearby hills like Chandragiri. It had a distinctive flower color. Leaves are at nodes ovate with scalloped edges. There are not many records of this plant. It is found at about 2900m and was flowering in late September. https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/species/a---l/l/lamiaceae/isodon/isodon-phulchokiensis.

Isodon rugosus (Wall. ex. Benth.) Codd

Wrinkled leaf Isodon

Nepali: Meratti

A frequent roadside mint grows in dense clusters on the way to the top of Phulchowki. It has tiny purplish flowers with some speckles on the upper hood and with tiny dark anthers inside. It is very pretty up close. The flowers are densely packed on a long slender stalk of the main shrub. The leaves are crinkled and marginated. Flowering is from the end of July through October. 

Clinopodium vulgare L.

Cushion Calamint

Nepali: Suparnasa or Bilajor

Flowers from August to September. The plant is only about 25-30cm tall and grows beside the road. The stem is divided by whorls of flower clusters along the branch. The white flowers are tiny with two lips and the leaves are hairy showing at the base of each flower cluster. Medicinal, the juice of stems and leaves is applied to wounds in Nepal.

Teucrium quadrifarium Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don

Himalayan Germander

Nepali: Kaalo Rudilo or Bhatryaapaat

The early appearance is a purple cone, then it expands upward and the purplish flowers open as the length extends. The anthers extend out of the hood like multiple eyes. It is common in large clumps along the road up to Phulchowki in August and September. It is found from 2000m up to 2700m. 

Phlomoides hamosa (Benth.) Mathiesen 

Syn: Notochaete hamosa Benth.

Nepali:

A medium-sized shrub with small white flowers in the leaf nodes, flowering in July. Later in September, the plant has tiny seeds in the calyx. Many insects perched on this plant since it was near the water. The location was near the top of Phulchowki at the pond below the army camp.

Colquhounia coccinea Wall.

Himalayan Mint Shrub

Nepali: Phoolpaat, Saano Tushaare, Jhip jhip

An evergreen shrub with striking red and orange tubular flowers clusters at the end of the stem and at leaf junctions. On Phulchowki it is found above 2400m along the road. The showy bright orange and red flowers are hard to miss. It begins to flower in August and lasts through to October.

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