Cat's Whiskers

Description

Orthosiphon aristatus is a plant species in the family of Lamiaceae / Labiatae. The plant is a medicinal herb found mainly throughout southern China, the Indian Subcontinent, South East Asia and tropical Queensland. It is known as kumis kucing in Indonesia and misai kucing in Malaysia, both of which translates to cat's whiskers. In the US it may be commonly known as cat's whiskers or Java tea.Orthosiphon aristatus is used in landscaping to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to its nectar. Orthosiphon is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae native to Africa, Southern Asia and Queensland, with one species (O. americanus) in Colombia. They are herbaceous shrubs which grow to a height of 1.5 m (5 ft). Some Orthosiphon species are popular garden plants because of their flowers, which are white and bluish with filaments resembling a cat's whiskers. In the wild, the plants can be seen growing in forests and along roadsides. Common names in Southeast Asia are Misai Kucing (Malaysia), Kumis Kucing and Remujung (Indonesia), and Yaa Nuat Maeo (Thailand).