WITHANIA

Withania Pauquy, Belladone 14. 1825. nom. cons., Boiss., Fl. Or. 4: 287. 1879; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 239. 1885; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 1: 369. 1918 (Reprint 1973); Kashyap, Lah. Dist. Fl. 181. 1936; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb. Reprint ed. 2: 340. 1967; Matthews & Rani in Matthews, Fl. Tamilnadu Carn. 1: 1056. 1983; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 17: 312; Nasir, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 28..

Shrubs or perennial unarmed herbs, pubescent with dendritic or simple hairs. Stems erect, much branched. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple, petiolate; leaf blade entire, glabrous or pubescent, often with dendritic hairs. Inflorescence solitary or in congested axillary clusters. Pedicels short. Calyx campanulate, usually 5-lobed. Corolla campanulate, usually 5-lobed, parted to halfway, corolla slightly larger than calyx. Stamens 5, equal, inserted near base of corolla tube; filaments slightly compressed; anthers sometimes connivent. Disc evident, ring-like, surrounding ovary base. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary 2-locular, ovules numerous per loculus on swollen placentas, placentation axile; style slender. Fruiting calyx becomes enlarged, enveloping berry, closed at apex. Fruit a globose shiny berry. Seeds compressed, reniform.

20 species

Withania somnifera

Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal in DC., Prodr. 13,1: 453. 1852; Boiss., Fl. Or. 4: 287. 1879; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 239. 1885; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 1: 369. 1918 (Reprint 1973); Nair, Fl. Bashahr Himal. 201. 1977; Sharma & Kachroo, Fl. Jammu (Illustr.) 2: t. 193. 1983; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 458. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 500. 2006; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 17: 313; Nasir, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 30.

Perennial suffruticose herb, up to 1.5 m tall, pubescent with dendritic and stellate hairs. Stem erect or ascending, branched, often with hoary mealy tomentum. Leaves alternate; petiole 0.7-3 cm long, stellate tomentose; leaf blade 5-16 cm x 2.5-10 cm, elliptic-ovate, broadly ovate, broadly lanceolate, margin entire, apex usually acute, base cuneate attenuating into petiole, glabrescent adaxially except along midvein and lateral veins, pubescent with stellate and dendritic hairs abaxially. Flowers greenish or greenish-yellow, 6-8 mm x 6-8 mm, actinomorphic, bisexual, usually 5-merous, hypogynous, usually 5 or more together in sessile or subsessile umbellate cymes in leaf axils, peduncle obsolete; pedicels 0-5 mm long, elongating slightly in fruits, tomentose. Calyx campanulate, 5-7 mm long, stellate-dendritic mealy tomentose; lobes 5 (occasionally 4), deltoid, long acuminate, nearly equalling the tube, spreading or recurved. Corolla yellowish-green, narrowly campanulate, 8-9 mm long, tomentose outside and at throat, lobes 5 (occasionally 4), nearly equalling or shorter than tube, ovate, recurved or spreading. Stamens 5, equal, inserted at base of corolla tube, included; filaments 4-5 mm long; anthers shorter than filaments, ca. 1 mm long, ovoid, minutely apiculate, dehiscence longitudinal. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary glabrous, 2-locular, many ovules per loculus on swollen placentas, placentation axile; style slender, 3-4 mm long, exserted; stigma capitate, obscurely 2-lobed; disc below the ovary. Berry 6-8 mm in diameter, +/- globose, smooth, shiny, scarlet or orange, enclosed completely by inflated membranous calyx. Fruiting calyx up to 2.5 cm diameter, globose or ovoid, slightly 5-angled, prominently veined, truncate at base, pointed with short connivent calyx lobes, scurffy pubescent outside; green becoming brown and translucent on drying. Seeds +/-2 mm x 2 mm, reniform-discoid, pale brown, rugose.

Flowering and Fruiting: Almost throughout the year
Common Names: Winter Cherry, Indian Ginseng, Poison Gooseberry, Asgandh, Ashwagandha (Hindi)