Plantaginaceae FAMILY

Bacopa monnieri

Edibility

3/5

Medicinal

4/5

Safety & Hazards

When the plant is harvested from the wild, great care should be taken to harvest it from unpolluted sites, as it can take up considerable amounts of heavy metals[ 310 Title Plant Resources of Southeast Asia Publication Author Website http://proseanet.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia. ].

Botanical Description

Bacopa monnieri is a much branched, creeping herb, sending out stems 5 - 40cm long, and rooting at the nodes[ 310 Title Plant Resources of Southeast Asia Publication Author Website http://proseanet.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia. ]. A major ayurvedic herb with a long history of use. The plant is not usually cultivated but is much harvested from the wild.

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

Native RangeProbably originating in tropical Asia, it is found through most of the tropics and subtropics.

HabitatMud flats in estuarine habitats[ 200 Title The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. Publication Author Huxley. A. Publisher MacMillan Press Year 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5 Description Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed. ]. Moist and wet places, such as the borders of water channels, wells, irrigated fields etc[ 304 Title Handbook of Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants Publication Author Kapoor. L. D. Publisher CRC Press, Florida. Year 2001 ISBN 0-8493-2929-9 Description A very detailed book on some of the key Ayurvedic herbs, giving both technical and non-technical information on each plant. The whole is very well referenced. ].