Centella asiatica (L.) Urb.
Asiatic Pennywort / Penggaga (Br.); Pegaga (Dus.)
Description
Traditional Medicinal Uses
Ecology
Propagation
Distribution
Precaution
Perennial small creeping herbs of 20 cm tall and often aromatic. Leaves are simple, glabrous, solitary or in a group of 5 per shoot with palmately netted veins. Leaf blade is reniform, rounded at apex, cordate at base with toothed margin. Stems are circular, rooting with nodes and sometimes purplish. Flowers are bisexual, green, whitish or pinkish- red forming in small umbels near the soil surface. Inflorescence an umEel borne at leaf axils. Fruits are small, smooth and ribbed. Rootstocks are covered with root hairs, creamy and
In other countries, the fruits are used as a remedy for bilious or liver disease while the leaf decoction is used to treat fever, diarrhoea and earache. The plant is reported for its anticancer, anticonvulsant, antioxidant, analgesic antiinflammator\ antiulcer anthelmintic, cardiovascular, antinociceptive, antidiabetic, antipyretic, hepatoprotective, neuropharmacological, diuretic, antimicrobial,
It thrives on wet habitats such as wetlands, grassy places, near rivers or ponds and on wet forest. It prefers damp moist soil under partial shade.
Seeds and stolon division.
Native to wetlands in Asia.
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