Clitoria

Clitoria

Clitoria ternatea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Tribe:	Phaseoleae
Subtribe:	Clitoriinae
Genus:	Clitoria L.
Species
Many, see text.

Blue and white varieties of Clitoria ternatea

Clitoria is a genus of flowering plants that are insect pollinated.

Distribution and uses

These plants are native to tropical and temperate areas of the world, including southeast Asia and Madagascar, where the flowers are often used as a food dye or dipped in batter and deep-fried.

The most widely known species of the genus is Clitoria ternatea, also known as Butterfly pea. It has medicinal uses and it is used as food as well. Its roots are used in ayurveda Indian medicine.^[1] In traditional Ayurvedic medicine, it has been used for centuries as a memory enhancer, nootropic, antistress, anxiolytic, antidepressant, anticonvulsant, tranquilizing and sedative agent.

Naming of the genus

This genus was named after the human female clitoris, for the flowers bear a resemblance to female genitals. Originally the first described species of the genus was given the name Flos clitoridis ternatensibus in 1678 by Rumpf, a German-born botanist employed by the Dutch East India Company. It was regarded as appropriately named by Johann Philipp Breyne in 1747.^[2] Many vernacular names of these flowers in different languages are similarly based on references to a woman's sexual organ.^[3]

There were controversies in the past among botanists regarding the good taste of the naming of the genus. The analogy drew sharp criticism from botanists like James Edward Smith in 1807, Amos Eaton in 1817, Michel Étienne Descourtilz in 1826 and Eaton and Wright in 1840. Some less explicit alternatives, like Vexillaria (Eaton 1817) and Nauchea (Descourtilz 1826), were proposed, but they didn't prosper and the name Clitoria has survived to this day.^[4]

Species

Clitoria albiflora Mattei
Clitoria amazonum Benth.
Clitoria andrei Fantz
Clitoria angustifolia Kunth
Clitoria annua J. Graham
Clitoria arborea Benth.
Clitoria arborescens R. Br.
Clitoria australis Benth.
Clitoria biflora Dalziel
Clitoria brachystegia Benth.
Clitoria bracteata Poir.
Clitoria brasiliana L.
Clitoria cajanifolia (C. Presl) Benth.
Clitoria capitata Rich.
Clitoria dendrina Pittier
Clitoria fairchildiana R. A. Howard
Clitoria falcata Lam.
Clitoria fragrans Small
Clitoria glycinoides DC.
Clitoria guianensis (Aubl.) Benth.
Clitoria heterophylla Lam.
- Clitoria heterophylla var. heterophylla
- Clitoria heterophylla var. pedunculata (Bojer ex Benth.) Fantz
Clitoria javitensis subsp. javitensis
Clitoria laurifolia Poir.
Clitoria linearis Gagnep.
Clitoria mariana L.
Clitoria mearnsii De Wild.
Clitoria mexicana Link
Clitoria moyobambensis Fantz
Clitoria nana Benth.
Clitoria pedunculata Bojer ex Benth.
Clitoria pinnata (Pers.) R. H. Sm. & G. P. Lewis
Clitoria plumieri Turpin ex Pers.
Clitoria polyphylla Poir.
Clitoria racemosa G. Don
Clitoria racemosa Benth.
Clitoria rubiginosa Pers.
Clitoria sagotii Fantz
Clitoria schiedeana Schltdl.
Clitoria stipularis Benth.
Clitoria tanganicensis Micheli
Clitoria ternatea L.
Clitoria virginiana L.
Clitoria woytkowskii Fantz
Clitoria zanzibarensis Vatke
Clitoria zanzibarensis mengkoemieng

Gallery

The shape of the Clitoria flowers has inspired the name of the genus
Clitoria mariana flower
Clitoria ternatea, known as Neel Aporajita in Bangladesh
Thai Khao tom sweet colored blue with Clitoria ternatea flowers
Clitoria tea

References

↑ "APARËJITË (Root)". The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (Part I Volume II). Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. pp. 10–11.
↑ Paul R. Fantz, Nomenclatural notes on the genus Clitoria
↑ Clitoria ternatea
↑ Fantz, Paul R. (1991). "Ethnobotany of Clitoria (Leguminosae)". Economic Botany (New York Botanical Garden Press) 45 (4): 511–20. doi:10.1007/BF02930715. JSTOR 4255394.