CENTELLA ASIATICA (Pennywort)
Sushmitha S. R.
I B.Sc (CBZ)
GFGC, Tumkur
sushmithasr48@gmail.com Ph: 9916573749
Centella asiatica commonly known as pennywort or gotulola is an herbaceous frost tender perennial plant in the flowering plant family apiaceae. It is native to the family apiaceae. It is used as a culinary vegetable and as a medicinal herb.
Description:
Centella grown in temperate and tropical swampy areas in many region of the world. The stem is slender, creeping stolons green to reddish in color, connecting plants to each other. It has long stalked green rounded apices which have smooth texture with palmately netted veins. The leaves are borne on pericladial petioles of rhizomes growing vertically down. They are creamish in color and covered root hairs. The flowers are white or pinkish to red in color, born in small rounded bunches near the surface of soil. Each flower is enclosed in two green bracts.
Habitat:
Centella asiatica is indigenous to Indian subcontinent, south east asia and wetland regions of the southeastern. Because the plant is aquatic, it is especially sensitive to biological and chemical pollutants in the water, which may be absorbed into the plant. It can be cultivated in drier soil as long as they are watered regularly enough.
Traditional medicine:
In traditional medicine centella has been used to treat various disorders and minor wounds. Clinical efficacy and safety have not been confirmed by high quality medicinal research. Contact dermatitis and skin irritations can be cured from topical application. Head aches, nausea and drowsiness may be treated by internal dosages. The herb may have adverse effects on liver function when used over many months. In Ayurveda centella is classified as a vegetable in the Charakasamhita.
Agriculture:
It is the context of phytoremediation C. asiatica is a potential phytoextraction tool owing to its ability to take up and translocate metals from root to shoot when grown in soils contaminated by heavy metals