Japanese name: ナンバンルリソウ（南蛮瑠璃草） Scientific name:Heliotropium indicum
[Overview]
An annual 10–50 cm tall.
The whole plant is covered with coarse grayish-white hairs.
The stem is somewhat fleshy and branches freely.
Leaves are simple and alternate, oblong to ovate, wrinkled along the veins, with wavy margins.
There is a leaf stalk.
The leaves at the base of the stem are opposite.
Scorpioid cymes 5–30 cm long at the stem tips bear flowers densely on one side.
The flowers are 3–4 mm across, and the corolla is 5-lobed, changing from pale blue to white.
[History]
It is naturalized in the tropics to subtropics of the world, and in Japan is found on coasts and roadsides in the Nansei Islands from Amami southward and on Chichijima in the Ogasawara Islands.
It was also recorded in Yokohama in 1988.
[Uses]
It seems to be used medicinally in its native range.
