Canthium coromandelicum

Canthium coromandelicum
Canthium coromandelicum in Kerala, India
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Rubiaceae
Subfamily:	Ixoroideae
Tribe:	Vanguerieae
Genus:	Canthium
Species:	C. coromandelicum
Binomial name
Canthium coromandelicum L.

Canthium coromandelicum is a bushy thorny suffruticose herb, a native of India found mainly in the Coromandel region.

Appearance

Canthium coromandelicum is a shrub, usually with opposite horizontal thorns a little above the leaf. Sometimes the shrub is nearly unarmed. Leaves are ovate, smooth, and often fascicled on young shoots. Short, few flowered racemes arise in leaf axils. Flowers are small and yellow with four stamens. Flowers are bearded in the throat. The tube is short, with four to five spreading petals. Anthers are inserted into the throat, scarcely protruding. The style protrudes out and the stigma is somewhat spherical. The fruits are obovate and furrowed on each side, with their color ranging from red to brown, with a dark pink being the prominent color when ripe. The flowering season of the plant is from July to August.