中文名（Chinese Name）：南板蓝根
学名（Scientific Name）：Strobilanthes cusia (Nees) J.B.Imlay
英文名（English Common Name）：
别名（Chinese Common Name）：马蓝
异名（Synonym）：Baphicacanthus cusia (Nees) Bremek.  Dipteracanthus calycinus Champion ex Bentham  Strobilanthes flaccidifolius Nees  Goldfussia cusia Nees  Strobilanthes championi T. Anderson  Ruellia indigofera Griff.  Ruellia indigotica Fortune  Strobilanthes balansae Lindau  Baphicacanthus cuaia (Nees) Bremek. 
科属（Family & Genus）：爵床科（Acanthaceae）紫芸菜属
形态特征（Description）：草本，多年生一次性结实，茎直立或基部外倾。稍木质化，高约1米，通常成对分枝，幼嫩部分和花序均被锈色、鳞片状毛，叶柔软，纸质，椭圆形或卵形，长10-20 (-25）厘米，宽4-9厘米，顶端短渐尖，基部楔形，边缘有稍粗的锯齿，两面无毛，干时黑色；侧脉每边约8条，两面均凸起；叶柄长1.5-2厘米。穗状花序直立，长10-30厘米；苞片对生，长1.5-2.5厘米。蒴果长2-2.2厘米，无毛；种子卵形，长3.5毫米。花期11月。
分布（Distribution）：产广东、海南、香港、台湾、广西、云南、贵州、四川、福建、浙江。常生于潮湿地方。孟加拉国、印度东北部、缅甸、喜马拉雅等地至中南半岛均有分布。
用途（Use）：本种的叶含蓝靛染料，在合成染料发明以前，我国中部、南部和西南部都栽培利用。
引自中国植物志英文版FOC Vol. 19 Page 382, 386, 407, 408
Strobilanthes cusia (Nees) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 499. 1891.
板蓝 ban lan | Acanthaceae  | Strobilanthes
Goldfussia cusia Nees in Wallich, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 3: 88. 1832; Baphicacanthus cusia (Nees) Bremekamp; Dipteracanthus calycinus Champion; Ruellia indigofera Griffith; R. indigotica Fortune; Strobilanthes balansae Lindau; S. championii T. Anderson; S. flaccidifolia Nees.
Herbs 0.5-1.5 m tall, erect, branched, drying blackish, isophyllous to weakly anisophyllous. Stems glabrous or minutely brown puberulent. Petiole 0.5-7 cm; leaf blade elliptic to ovate, 4-20 × 2-9 cm, both surfaces glabrous or abaxially minutely puberulent along veins, abaxially paler green, adaxially dark green, secondary veins 7-9 on each side of midvein, base attenuate, margin serrate, apex acute. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, bracteate spikes, 1-6 cm, often aggregated to form a leafy branched panicle; peduncle 1-12 cm; bracts leaflike, petiolate, oblanceolate, obovate, or spatulate, 1.2-2.5 cm, basally usually sterile; bracteoles linear-oblanceolate, 2-3 mm, deciduous before bracts. Calyx 0.8-1.5 mm in flower, accrescent to ca. 2.5 cm in fruit, minutely puberulent, 5-lobed almost to base; 4 lobes linear-lanceolate, apex acute to obtuse; 1 lobe oblanceolate and much longer. Corolla blue, 3.5-5 cm, straight to slightly bent, outside glabrous; tube basally cylindric and ca. 3 mm wide for 1-1.5 cm then slightly curved and gradually widened to ca. 1.5 cm at mouth; lobes oblong, ca. 9 × 9 mm, subequal. Stamens 4, included; filaments glabrous, shorter pair ca. 3 mm, longer pair ca. 7 mm; anther thecae oblong, ca. 3 mm; pollen type 4. Ovary oblong, apex puberulent with few gland-tipped trichomes; style ca. 3.2 cm, glabrous. Capsule 1.5-2.2 cm, glabrous, 4-seeded. Seeds ovate in outline, ca. 3.5 mm, covered with appressed trichomes; areola small. Fl. Jul-Feb, fr. Dec-Feb. 2n = 16, 32.
Usually in moist wooded places, sometimes cultivated; 100-2000 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Sichuan, Taiwan, SE Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].
Strobilanthes cusia is reported to flower irregularly. The species is perhaps pliestesial.
In at least part of its stated range Strobilanthes cusia may be cultivated rather than native.
This is a medicinal and dye plant and is the source of "Assam indigo."
（责任编辑：徐晔春）