Phyla nodiflora (L.) GREENE.

Family : Verbenaceae

Origin : Tropics and Subtropics

Description

A creeping annual herb, often rooting at the nodes, with numerous subquadrangular branches. Leaves opposite, subsessile, 2 to 3.2 cm long and 1 to 2 cm wide, spathulate or obovate, base cuneate, apex rounded, margins sharply serrate near the apex appressedly hairy on both sides with white hairs. Flowers sessile, densely packed in long pedunculate axillary heads that are at first globose, becoming elongate and spicate in fruit; peduncles 2.5 to 7.5 cm long; bracts 2.5 mm long, elliptic or obovate, shortly acuminate. Fruits globose-oblong, 1.5 to 2 mm in diameter, dry splitting into two 1-seeded glabrous convex pyrenes.

Habitat
Prefers moist places; in India.

Parts Used : Plant

Herb Effects
The plant is anodyne, antibacterial, deobstruent, diuretic, febrifuge, emmenagogue, parasiticide and refrigerant.

Active Ingredients
Lippiflorins A and B and nodiflorins A and B

Medicinal Use

For boils, reducing fever and as a diuretic. It is used in the treatment of hookworm. The plant is cooling, diuretic, emmenagogue and used in the form of a paste as maturant for boils, swollen cervical glands, erysipelas and chronic indolent ulcers. It is used in lack of bowel movements and pain in knee joints. Infusion of leaves and tender stalks is useful in indigestion in children and also after delivery in women.

Reference