Medicinal and aromatic plants – industrial profiles

Key to species
Bracts concealing calyx  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
L. gibsoni
Bracts only covering basal part of calyx  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
L. bipinnata
28.
L. gibsonii
Grah
.
Herbaceous plant up to 1 m with an indumentum of short soft hairs (pilose). Leaves with very
short petiole, pinnate to bipinnate upto 13 cm long. Spike to 5.5 cm usually branched at base 
of spike. Bracts broadly lanceolate with acute apex, equal or slightly longer than calyx and 
concealing it. Corolla with rather small lobes. India, Deccan Peninsula.
29.
L. bipinnata
(Roth) Kuntze
(Figure 2.16)
A highly variable herbaceous plant 15–100 cm. Indumentum of short hairs, particularly dense
on stems and inflorescence. Leaves sessile or shortly petiolate, 2–12 cm long and usually 
distinctly bipinnatisect. Spike 4–7.5 cm, branching from base of spike. Bracts ovate tapering to
a long sharp tip, 0.3 
 
length of calyx and only concealing the base of calyx. Corolla tube twice
length of calyx, very pale blue in colour. Central and south India.
A number of varieties have been recognised based on shape and length of bract. Further study
is desirable to determine if these are distinct taxa or represent natural variation in this species
and hence have not been included in this treatment.
Other species
The following three species have not formally been classified within the present sectional classi-
fication and are subject to further work to clarify their position.
30
Tim Upson

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30.
L. hasikensis
A.G. Miller
Woody shrub to 
c
. 30 cm, with a characteristic dense white tomentose indumentum. Leaves
oblong-ovate, small 0.2–1.5 cm long, with 1–3 pairs of rounded or 
 
triangular lobes. Spike
capitate, 
c
. 1 cm long, with single-flowered whorls, spirally arranged on axis, which lengthens 
in fruit to 
c
. 4–5 cm. Bracts with a short sharp tip arising from between the two wing-like 
and membraneous 
 
orbicular lateral lobes, parallel-veined. Calyx 15-nerved, all five 
lobes 
 
equal in size and shape. Corolla tube 
c
. 2
length of the calyx, lilac in colour. Endemic
to Dhofar.
An extremely distinct species of 
Lavandula
with no clear affinities within the genus. The 
single-flowered cymes borne in a spiral arrangement, the subequal calyx teeth, form of the
corolla and the biogeography of this species would suggest some affinity to section 
Subnudae
.
However, the capitate inflorescence with the rachis extending in fruit, the bracts which are 
parallel-veined and extremely broad with two wing like lateral orbicular lobes and the leaves
which are oblong ovate with rounded or triangular lobes are all unique to this species and hence
would be a rather anomalous in any of the presently described sections.