Bio Diversity Park

Common Name : Indian Pennywort

Hindi Name : ब्राह्मी | Scientific Name : Centella asiatica
Family : Apiaceae
Uses : It possesses very valuable nutritional compounds when consumed with dietary food. Various studies have shown different functional properties of C. asiatica including antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity, antiulcer activity, antidiabetic activity, anti-inflammatory activity, cytotoxic activity, cardio, neuro, and skin protective activities, radioprotective activity, immunomodulatory effect, memory-enhancing activity, and wound healing effect.
Native: Southeast Asian countries such as India, Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia, and Malaysia as well as South Africa and Madagascar
General Description:

It is a prostrate, faintly aromatic, stoloniferous, perennial, usually creeper herb that attains height up to 15cm (6 in.). However, there are some giant types which attain even up to 25cm (10 in.) in height. Stem is glabrous, striated, rooting at the nodes. Leaves are emerging alternately in clusters at stem nodes, long petioles, 2–6cm long and 1.5–5cm wide, orbicular-reniform, sheathing leaf base, crenate margins, glabrous on both sides. Flowers are in fascicled umbels, each umbel consisting of three to four white to purple or pink flowers, flowering occurs in the month of April– June. Fruits are borne throughout the growing season in approximately 2 in. long, oblong, globular in shape, and strongly thickened pericarp. Seeds have pendulous embryo which are laterally compressed. It flourishes extensively in shady, marshy, damp and wet places such as paddy fields river banks forming a dense green carpet and plant can maximize its growth and yield in habitat with sandy loam rather than clayey soil.