Wild Blue Pea Flowers | Clitoria ternatea - Option: Sample 15 g

It is a perennial herbaceous plant, with elliptic, obtuse leaves. It grows as a vine or creeper, doing well in moist, neutral soil. Its most striking feature is the color of its flowers, a vivid deep blue; solitary, with light yellow markings. They are about 4 cm long by 3 cm wide. Some varieties yield white flowers and pink. The fruits are 5–7 cm long, flat pods with six to ten seeds in each pod. They are edible when tender.

It is grown as an ornamental plant and as a revegetation species (e.g., in coal mines in Australia), requiring little care when cultivated. As a legume, its roots form a symbiotic association with soil bacteria known as rhizobia, which transform atmospheric N2 into a plant-usable form (a process called nitrogen fixing), therefore, this plant is also used to improve soil quality through the decomposition of nitrogen rich plant material.

The blue colour of C. ternatea is a result of various anthocyanins, most importantly ternatins – polyacylated derivatives of delphinidin 3,3', 5'-triglucoside (Da-T).

Bengali name of Clitoria ternatea is Aparajita, Malayalam name is Shankhapushpam and Hindi name is Koyala. It is a very useful herb explained in scriptures of Ayurveda with many medicinal uses.

The genus name Clitoria is derived from the word "clitoris" (clitoris) because of the shape of the flowers, which resemble a female vulva. The first mention of the genus, which includes an illustration of the plant, comes from 1678 by the Polish naturalist Jakob Breyne, who described it as Flos clitoridis ternatensibus, meaning "Ternate flower of the clitoris". The specific name is derived from the island where botanist Carl Linnaeus' specimens came from: Ternate Island, located in the northern Maluku Islands. Interestingly, based on the traditional Ayurveda medicine, this herb helps to improve the process of spermatogenesis in males and can be a great option for someone struggling with infertility and impotence issues.