Bluewings

Herbs, 15-50 cm tall. Stems erect, quadrangular, simple or branched above middle, subglabrous. Petiole 1-2 cm; leaf blade oblong-ovate to ovate, 3-5 X 1.5-2.5 cm, subglabrous, margin coarsely serrate. Racemes often terminal; bracts linear, 2-5 mm. Pedicel 1-2 cm. Calyx ellipsoid, 1.3-1.9 X ca. 0.8 cm, green or purple-red at apex and margin, 5-winged; wings decurrent, ca. 2 mm wide, becoming ca. 3 mm wide in fruit; lips subtriangular, 1.5-1.7 cm, sometimes apically lobed. Corolla 2.5-4 cm, exceeding calyx by 1-2.3 cm; tube pale violet, upper side yellow; lower lip lobes purple-blue, middle lobe with a yellow patch near base, oblong to suborbicular, ca. 10 X 8 mm, subequal; upper lip pale blue, erect, broadly obovate, 1-1.2 X 1.2-1.5 cm, emarginate. Stamens unappendaged. Capsule narrowly ellipsoid ca. 12 X 0.5 mm. Seeds yellow. Fl. and fr. Jun-Dec.

Indo-China, cultivated in India and Malaysia.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam].

1200 m

Usually cultivated in S China but sometimes occurring by roadsides or in fields; below 1200 m.

Torenia fournieri, the bluewings or wishbone flower, is an annual plant in the Linderniaceae, with blue, white, or pink flowers that have yellow markings. It is typically grown as a landscape annual, reaching 12–15 in. tall. It has simple opposite or subopposite leaves with serrated edges.