General
info
Gotu kola— also
known as Centella asiatica, Indian pennywort—has been used for
centuries as a medicinal herb, as far back as 3000 years ago in Indian
Ayurvedic medicine, 2000 years ago in Chinese medicine, in the late
1800s in French pharmacopoeia. Contrary to its name, it contains no
cola or caffeine.
Botany
· A prostrate,
creeping sparingly hairy or nearly smooth perennial herb. The stems
rooting at the nodes, delicate, slender and creeping.
· Leaves: rounded to reniform, 2 to 5 cm wide, horizontal, more
or less cupped, rounded at the tip, and kidney-shaped or heart-shaped
at the base, palmately veined, margins undulate-crenate, the rounded
lobes often overlapping. Petioles erect, 3 to 20 cm and long.
· Flowers: Purple and axillary, ovate, and about 1 cm long. Peduncles
occur in pairs or threes, less than 1 cm long and usually bear 3 sessile
flowers. Flowering October to May.
· Fruits: minute, ovoid, white or green, and reticulate, each
with 9 subsimilar longitudinal ridges.
· 5 carpels, cylindric compressed, about 2.5 mm long, white or
green, reticulate. Ovary inferior. Stamens 5, epigynous.
Distribution
Found in gardens;
thickets; open, damp grasslands on rice paddy banks and streams
throughout the Philippines.
Parts
utilized
· Entire
plant.
· Gather drug material anytime of the year.
Constituents
Bitter principle, vellarin; pectic acid.
Chemical analysis of the plant shows the presence of vallarine,
high vitamin B content in the leaves and roots, and a miscellany
of other constituents such as carbohydrates, resins, proteins,
ash, alkali, alkaline salts, phosphates, and tannins.
Uses
Nutrition
Rich in Vitamin B, it can be eaten as
a salad or vegetable dish.
Folkloric
· Infectious hepatitis,
measles, respiratory tract infections - colds, tonsillitis, laryngopharyngitis,
bronchitis.
· Fresh material: 60 to 260 gms, dried material: 30 to 60 gms:
Take in form of decoction.
· Counterirritant: Pound fresh leaves, mix with vaseline or oil
and apply over affected area as poultice.
· In India and Fiji, roots used forskin inflammation, to improve
blood circulation, to treat bloating, congestion and depression.
· Also considered to be a brain and memory stimulant, used for
Alzheimer's disease and senility.
Recent uses:
Wounds and sore: The sap of the leaves is used on wounds and skin sores.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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