Biophytum sensitivum (L.) DC.

English Name : Sikerpud

Family : Oxalidaceae

Origin : Tropical Africa and Asia

Description

An annual herb, up to 35 cm tall, stem simple, smooth. Leaves are 7—12(—14)-jugate, rachis 5—10(—16.5) cm long, sensitive to touch, plying downwards, terminal leaflets falcate-obovate, 8—18 mm x 3—10 mm, asymmetrical, midrib excentric, other leaflets elliptical, symmetrical, base truncate, glabrous; peduncle up to 14 cm long, up to 10-flowered, glandular hairy; pedicel 1.5—3.5 mm long, sepals ovate-lanceolate, 4—7 mm long, acute, strigose and glandular-hairy, in fruit 5—9-nerved, 1.5—2 times as long as the fruit. Flowers are small, pink to white; petals lanceolate, 5—7 mm x 1—2 mm, truncate, yellow, sometimes with purplish lines, tristylous, styles in the middle form 0.5—1 mm long, often clasping the anthers of the longer filaments and tearing them off. Capsule 3—4 mm x 2 mm, apically puberulous and minutely glandular-hairy on the ribs. Seeds 0—3 per cell, 1 mm x 0.8 mm, transversely tubercled and ridged.

Habitat
Occurs in shady localities, in waste land, along riverbanks and under humid thickets, up to 250 m altitude.

Parts Used : Whole plant

Herb Effects
Anti-inflammatory (whole plant)

Medicinal Use
In the treatment of sore throat, abscesses, chronic wounds and fever (whole plant)

Reference