This is an erect, spreading,
branched, annual herb, about 50 centimeters in height, with hairs springing
from tubercles. The leaves are stalkless, opposite, lanceolate, 2 to 8
centimeters long, pointed at the tip, and heart-shaped at the base. The flowers
occur singly in the axils of the leaves. The sepal tube (calyx) is green, hairy,
and 1 to 13 centimeters long, with pointed lobes. The flower tube is pale blue,
with the limb about 1.5 centimeters in diameter, and the petals pointed. The
fruit is ellipsoid, and is enclosed by the calyx. The nutlets are about 5
millimeters long, and rough on the inner surface. It is found throughout India,
on roadsides and stony dry wastelands, upto 1,500 m.
Medicinal uses: The plant is acrid, bitter in
taste. In herbal medicine jargon, it is thermogenic, emollient, alexeteric,
anodyne, anti-inflammatory, carminative, constipating, diuretic, depurative,
ophthalmic, febrifuge and pectoral. This herb is also used in arthralgia,
inflammations, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, dysentery, strangury, skin diseases and
dysmenorrhoea.
SHEPHERD’S PURSE
Shepherd’s Purse is originally from
Europe, but has become very common in many parts of the world. The species
name bursa-pastoris mean purse of the shepherd. This name
refers to the fruit-capsule in the shape of a triangle, attached to slender
stalk from its pointy end, with a notch on the top. Shepherd’s Purse grows in
gardens, fields, waste grounds, and embankments with soils that are not too dry
and that provide enough sunshine. This is rather a small plant, growing to 6-20
cm high. The basal leaves are lanceolate and dentate. The white flowers are
arranged in loose racemes. Flowers are radially symmetrical with four petals.
The seeds of this plant give off a viscous compound when moistened. Aquatic
insects stick to it and eventually die. This can be used as a mosquito control
method, killing off the mosquito larvae, and makes it a borderline carnivorous
plant. The seeds, leaves, and root of this plant are edible. In China, it is
commercially grown for consumption. Flowering: December-January.
Medicinal uses: In Manipur, it has been used
to stop bleeding from internal organs.
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