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Acanthaceae is a flowering plants family under the order Lamiales and comprises at least 4,000 species regardless of tropical and subtropical species with Justicia being the largest genus under this family. The study on the flower’s petal and sepal micromorphology have been done on six Justicia species, namely as Justicia betonica L., J. carnea Lindl., J. comata (L.) Lam., J. gendarussa Burm.f., J. procumbens L. and J. ptychostoma Nees. Methodology used involves fixation, dehydration series, critical point drying technique and observation under scanning electron microscope. Results have shown that all six species have differences in micromorphological characteristics in the sepals and petals epidermal surfaces. Cuticular wax can be found on both abaxial and adaxial epidermal surfaces of petal and sepal for all species studied. Granular cuticular wax is the only type of cuticular wax was found present on petal and sepal of all species studied. There are also eight types of trichomes present on the petal epidermal surface and eight types of trichomes present on the sepal epidermal surface. J. betonica can be recognised directly by having amphidiacytic stomata on petal epidermal surface while stomata were absent on the petal epidermal surface of other species. As a conclusion, findings in this study have proven that petal and sepal micromorphological characteristics have systematic significant and can be used as supporting data for species differentiation and identification in the genus Justicia.

Comparative anatomical study on flower petals was studied in four selected Justicia species from Peninsular Malaysia, i.e. J. comata (L.) Lam., J. carnea Lindl. J. betonica Linn. and J. procumbens L with the objective to provide useful data for species identification and differentiation within the genus of Justicia. Methods used in this study are mechanical scrapping on the leaf surfaces and observation under light microscope. Finding in this study has shown that all species are sharing similar type of anticlinal walls pattern, which is sinuous pattern. Two or more type of trichomes is present in all species studied and this character can be used to differentiate Justicia species. Simple multicellular trichomes are found to be present in all species studied. Justicia betonica can be isolated from other species by the existence of cyclo-paracytic stomata on the petal surfaces.

Justicia betonica Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 1: 15. 1753. "Habitat in India." RCN: 109. Lectotype (Immelman in Bothalia 16: 40. 1986): Herb. Hermann 3: 2, No. 18 (BM-000621793). Current name: Justicia betonica L. (Acanthaceae). Note: Although Cufodontis (in Bull. Jard. Bot. ��tat Bruxelles 34: 968. 1964) stated "Typus: Rheede (Malabaria)", this is insufficiently precise to effect typification., Published as part of Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part J), pp. 599-607 in Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London :Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum on page 606, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.291971

A new indolo[3,2-b]quinoline alkaloid glycoside, jusbetonin (1), and three known alkaloids, namely, 10H-quindoline (2), 6H-quinindoline (3), and 5H,6H-quinindolin-11-one (4), have been isolated from the leaves of Justicia betonica. The structure of 1 was established on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR ((1)H-(1)H COSY, HMQC, and HMBC) and HRFABMS data. Compound 1 is the first example of a glycosylated indolo[3,2-b]quinoline alkaloid, while compound 4 was isolated for the first time from a natural source.

Cytological studies have been made on 19 species of Acanthaceae from Pachmarhi hills in Central India. Present studies reveal the first count of chromosome numbers for four species, namely,Dyschoriste depressa Nees,n=30;Lepidagathis fasciculata Nees,n=10;L. hyalina Nees,n=10 andJusticia diffusa Willd. var.prostrata Roxb.,n=9. New cytotypes have been located in three species asHemigraphis latebrosa Nees,n=28 (4x);Rungia parviflora Nees,n=13 (2x) andR. pectinata Nees,n=13 (2x). Diploid cytotypes of three species,viz., Blepharis maderaspatensis (Linn.) Roth,n=15;Justicia betonica Linn.,n=17 andThunbergia alata Bojer ex. Sims,n=9 have been detected for the first time from India. An analysis of the worked out species reveals the existence of only 10·53% polyploid species.

Justicia betonica, spec. nov. 3. Justicia fruticosa, foliis lanceolato-ovatis, bracteis ovatis acuminatis venoso-reticulatis coloratis. Fl. zeyl.18. * Betonica frutescens. Bont. jav. 146. Bem-curini. Rheed. mal.2. p.126. t.21. Habitat in India . ���, Published as part of Linnaeus, Carolus, 1753, Species plantarum: exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas, Stockholm :Laurentius Salvius on page 15, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3931989