Yellow Nailwort

Barleria prionitis is a shrub of the family Acanthaceae, native to island and mainland Southeast Asia, China, the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian Peninsula and north-eastern Africa. It is widely spread as an ornamental and weed, and has naturalised in many parts of the world. It is a much-branched shrub up to 1.8 metres tall with spines one to two centimetres long in the lower leaf axils. Linnaeus described it in 1753, and three subspecies were described in 1983. The page lists many vernacular names, including porcupine flower and dog bush in English, kuranta in Sanskrit and vjradanti in Marathi. It is used as a hedge and extensively in folk medicine. In India the root is placed on boils, the bark is used for dropsy and the leaf for toothache and rheumatism, and the leaf juice is applied to the feet in the monsoon season. Australia declared it a noxious environmental weed in 2001.