Crossandra infundibuliformis (firecracker flower) in kannada kanakambara (ಕನಕಾಂಬರ), is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae, native to southern India and Sri Lanka. It is most often found in south Indian region Malenadu.
It is an erect, evergreen subshrub growing to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) with glossy, wavy-margined leaves and fan-shaped flowers, which may appear at any time throughout the year. The flowers are unusually shaped with 3 to 5 asymmetrical petals. They grow from four-sided stalked spikes, and have a tube-like ¾ inch stalk. Flower colours range from the common orange to salmon-orange or apricot, coral to red, yellow and even turquoise.
This traditional variety has gained good spread among the farmers of the South India resulting in the export of crossandra to foreign countries and thereby fetching foreign money to our country.
This country fetched about 40 Crores turn over in south Indian market. To meet the increase in demand, we started micro propagation of Crossandra plants by tissue culture technique and distributed plant at the free of cost to self help groups as well as to the farmer.
So far we have developed about "100 Varieties of Crossandra" by pollen crossing, gamma radiation, chemical and UV mutation. Some of the plants have commercial value and some had ornamental value. Some of the varieties were requested by TNAU at free of cost for trail purpose