Woodfordia fruticosa (L.) Kurz

Widespread in the foothills. Leaves and twigs yield a yellow dye used in printing. Petals yield a red dye. Flowers and leaves are used medicinally as astringent and analgesic.

Shrub, c. 2.5 m tall. Leaves ovate-lanceolate or ovate, rarely falcate, ± oblique, 1.8-11.1 cm long, 8-30 mm broad. Cymes 3-16-flowered. Hypanthium 9-11 mm long, 2-5 mm broad. Petals 3-4.5 mm long, 0.5-0.75 mm broad, brick-red. Stamens 3-16.5 mm long. Ovary oblong, 4-6 mm long, 1.25-2 mm broad; style 8-15 mm long. Capsule ovate or elliptic, 6-10 mm long, 2.5-4.5 mm broad. Seeds triangular.

Shrubs, 1-5 m tall. Stems and branches pendulous, long, pubescent when young, becoming glabrous. Leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 3-14 × 1-4 cm, leathery, abaxially sparsely to densely tomentose and orange to black glandular punctate, adaxially glabrous, base rounded to subcordate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences condensed axillary shoots of 1-15 flowers. Floral tube light red, red-orange, or deep red, greenish basally, narrowly cyathiform, 9-15 mm; sepals oblong-ovate or deltate, 2-3 mm; epicalyx segments scarcely present. Petals 6, thin, linear-lanceolate, 1-5 mm, ca. as long as sepals. Stamens 12 , inserted above ovary base, long-exserted. Ovary 2-loculed; ovules 100+. Capsules elongate, elliptic. Seeds reddish brown, ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. Jan-May (mainly Mar-Apr), fr. Apr-May. 2n = 16.

Africa, W. Asia, Subtropical Himalaya, India, Ceylon, Burma, east to China.

Distribution: Madagascar, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, China, Indonesia.

200-1800 m

Fl. Per.: March-April.

Common in forests and on open slopes. Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand].

Lythrum fruticosum Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 1045. 1759; Grislea punctata Buchanan-Hamilton ex Smith; L. hunteri Candolle.

Woodfordia fruticosa is a species of plant in the family Lythraceae.