Alternanthera ficoidea (L.) P.Beauv.

 

Family: Amaranthaceae

Synonym: Achyranthes ficoidea (L.) Lam., Alternanthera polygonoides var. ficoidea (L.) M.Gómez

Habit: Herb

Habitat: Moist open places

Distribution: Tropical America, Introduced in India

Flowering and Fruiting: August

Key identification features: Sanguinarea is a perennial herb, native to South America, and now naturalized in India. Stems are prostrate or erect, moderately branched, hairless below, generally hairy above and in leaf-axils. Leaves are inverted-lancelike or narrowly elliptic. Round or short-cylindrical flower heads lie stalkless in leaf axils

Uses: Edible, Diuretic, anti-pyretic, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and anti- diarrheal agent

Abelmoschus moschatus Medik.

 

Family: Malvaceae

Synonym: Hibiscus abelmoschus var. genuinus Hochr. 

Vernacular name: Kattukasthuri

Habit: Sub-shrubs/herbs

Habitat: Forests slopes and dry places. Grasslands

Distribution: South Asia to Pacific Islands

Flowering & Fruiting: July-December

Key identification features: An undershrub with simple prickly or stellate hairs and palmately lobed or palmilobed leaves. Large yellow flowers in axillary solitary cymes with epicalyx.  Corolla yellow with dark purple, white or pink. Stamens indefinite monadelphous. Fruit capsule. 

Uses: The leaves and flowers are rubbed on scabies and also applied as a poultice on swellings. The leaves are antiinflammatory and febrifuge.

Passiflora foetida L.

 

Family: Passifloraceae

Synonym: Dysosmia foetida (L.) M.Roem. 

Vernacular name: Ammummapazham, Bonchikkaya, Chadayan, Poochapazham, Poodappazham

Habit: Shrub

Habitat: Degraded forests and wastelands

Distribution: Native of Tropical America; now naturalised in Indo-malesia, China, and Africa

Flowering and Fruiting: June-December

Key identification features: A vine with densely hispid branchlets. Flowers axillary, often solitary. Fruit berry, subglobose,

Uses: Young leaves and plant tips are edible. Dried leaves are used in tea. Pulp of the ripe fruit is eaten. It is used in treating diseases such as throat infection, giddiness etc.

Mesosphaerum suaveolens (L.) Kuntze

 

Family: Lamiaceae

Synonym: Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poit.

Vernacular name: Nattapoochedi

Habit: Shrub

Habitat: Degraded moist and dry deciduous forests and wastelands

Flowering & Fruiting: September-February

Distribution: India: Throughout India; South America

Key identification features: American Mint is a rigid annual herb of aggressive nature. It starts its vegetative phase either from perrenating rootstock or seeds, with the onset of monsoon rains. Flowering starts at an early age of 2-3 months. It produces copious blue flowers in small cymes along branch that ends with reduced leaves. Flowers are blue.

Uses: Plant is used as a local seasoning and also used in ethnomedicine for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, fever, eczema, flatulence, cancers, and headache

Biophytum sensitivum (L.) DC.

 

Scientific name: Biophytum sensitivum (L.) DC.

Family: Oxalidaceae

Synonym: Oxalis sensitiva L.

Vernacular name in Malayalam: Mukkutti

Habit: Small, annual herb with a slender stem and a rosette of pinnately compound leaves at the apex.

Habitat: Commonly found in moist, disturbed areas such as roadsides, fields, and open forests.

Distribution: Native to tropical and subtropical Asia; widely distributed in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia.

Flowering and Fruiting: Flowers from August to January; produces small, yellow, five-petaled flowers in umbels; fruits are capsules containing several seeds.

Key identification features: Slender stem with a rosette of compound leaves; leaflets fold inward upon touch; small, yellow flowers arranged in umbels.

Uses: Traditionally used in folk medicine for treating wounds, ulcers, diabetes, respiratory ailments, and inflammatory conditions.

Biophytum reinwardtii (Zucc.) Klotzsch

 

Family: Oxalidaceae

Synonym: Oxalis gracilenta Kurz.

Vernacular name: Mukkutti, Theendanazhi

Habit: Herb

Habitat: Western Ghats, Evergreen Forests

Distribution: Southeast Asia

Flowering and Fruiting: July-December

Key identification features: This herb has a simple rosette of leaves at the top of the stem. When touched, the leaflets exhibit sensitivity, closing together upwards. The leaflets themselves are either subsessile The herb produces flowers in peduncled pseudumbels, The petals are free  and later adhere for two-thirds of their length above the free bases. Petal colors can range from white to creamy yellow or pinkish-mauve, with a yellow base. Fruit is a capsule.

Uses: treat ailments such as fever, pain, digestive disorders, respiratory conditions, and skin ailments.

Cyanotis axillaris (L.) D.Don ex Sweet

 

Family: Commelinaceae

Synonym: Amischophacelus axillaris (L.) R.S.Rao & Kammathy, Commelina axillaris L.

Habit: Herb

Habitat: Degraded deciduous forests and moist places

Distribution: India: Assam, Odisha; Indonesia, Thailand

Flowering and Fruiting: August-December

Key identification features: Fleshy decumbent, glabrous herbs, rooting at lower nodes, often purple-suffused. Leaves  linear, apex acute or acuminate; Inflorescence in axillary cymose clusters, enclosed within the leaf sheath. Corolla blue; Capsule  oblong, apex beaked. Seeds 6, oblong, pitted.

Uses: Edible, Treat boils and ascites

Solanum virginianum L.

 

Scientific name: Solanum virginianum L.

Family: Solanaceae

Synonym: Solanum surattense Burm.f.; Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad. 

Vernacular name in Malayalam: Kandakarichunda

Habit: Perennial, erect or spreading herb, 50–70 cm tall, with stout, needlelike prickles on stems and leaves.

Habitat: Commonly found in scrub forests, roadsides, and wastelands.

Distribution: Native to India and Sri Lanka; widely distributed in tropical Asia, Africa, and parts of Oceania.

Flowering and Fruiting: Flowers from November to May; produces blue-purple, stellate flowers; fruits are pale yellow berries, 1.3–2.2 cm in diameter.

Key identification features: Stout, needlelike prickles on stems and leaves; ovate-oblong, lobed leaves; blue-purple flowers; pale yellow berries.

Uses: Traditionally used in folk medicine for treating fever, skin diseases, and as an anti-inflammatory; fruit contains solasodine, used in steroid synthesis.

Cleome rutidosperma var. burmanni (Wight & Arn.) Siddiqui & S.N.Dixit

 

Family: Capparaceae

Synonym: Cleome burmanni Wight & Arn., Sieruela rutidosperma var. burmanni (Wight & Arn.) Roalson & J.C.Hall

Vernacular name: Kattukadugu

Habit: Herb

Habitat: Degraded forest areas, also in the plains

Distribution: Indo-Malesia

Flowering and Fruiting: February-August

Key identification features: Decumbent herbs with trifoliolate leaves and obovate leaflets. The flowers are solitary, axillary, with oblong sepals and obovate petals. The capsule is linear

Uses: The leaves eaten as a cooked vegetable or added to soup. The plant is frequently used in traditional medicine.

Alternanthera brasiliana (L.) Kuntze

 

Family: Amaranthaceae

Synonym: Achyranthes brasiliana (L.) Standl., Alternanthera dentata Scheygr.

Habit: Herb

Habitat: Fields, under trees, moist places

Distribution: India, West Indies and Brazil, Tropical America

Flowering and Fruiting: Throughout the year

Key identification features: It is a perennial herb with erect and glabrous stems. The leaves are sessile with ovate to lanceolate shape. Inflorescences is terminal and axillary. The flowers have monomorphic tepals with 5 stamens. The fruit is utricle, which are brown and ellipsoid.

Uses: The leaf juice is squeezed into vinegar and drunk as a refreshing, antidiarrhoeic infusion

Alternanthera bettzickiana (Regel) G.Nicholson

 

Family: Amaranthaceae

Synonym: Achyranthes bettzickiana (Regel) Standl., Telanthera bettzickiana Regel

Vernacular name: Red Calico Plant

Habit: Herb

 Habitat: Degraded deciduous forests and wastelands

Distribution: India, Tropical America

Flowering and Fruiting: October-February

Key identification features: These perennial herbs have leaves that are opposite. They can be narrowly elliptic, broadly elliptic, oblanceolate, or rhomboid-ovate in shape. The tepals  are white. The inner two tepals are slightly shorter and usually have one to two veins. Additionally, the pseudo-staminodes are as long as the filaments.

Uses: The cooked vegetable is given to anaemic children in order to improve their health.

Xenostegia tridentata (L.) D.F.Austin & Staples

 

Family: Convolvulaceae

Synonym: Merremia tridentata (L.) Hallier f.

Vernacular name: Avvaiyaar, koondhal, Mudhiyaar, koondhal, Cheruvayera, Prasarani

Habit: Herb, Climber

Habitat: Sandy fields near the coast, cultivated areas, wasteland, roadsides, forest openings

Distribution:  Tropical & sub-Tropical Asia

Flowering and Fruiting: June-March

Key identification features: Trailing herbs with long, slender branches and a thick rootstock. The flowers appear in axillary few-flowered cymes, sometimes solitary. The corolla is either cream-colored or yellow, with a purplish eye at the center. The capsules are subglobose in shape, and contain 4 glabrous brown seeds.

Uses: Merremia tridentata is planted to help control soil erosion due to its spreading growth habit and ability to cover large areas.

Tragia involucrata L.

 

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Synonym: Croton urens L., Tragia cordata B.Heyne ex Benth.,

Vernacular name: Cherukodithuva, Choriyanam, Kodithoova, Kodithumba

Habit: Herb

Habitat: Evergreen broad-leaved forests

Distribution: India, Nepal and Sri Lanka

Flowering and Fruiting: July-December

Key identification features: Slender, twining herbs with stinging hairs. Leaves ovate or elliptic, Spikes axillary, monoecious,; male flowers above, female flowers 1-2, at the base. Capsule 3-lobed, hispid. Seeds globose.

Uses: The roots are used for the treatment of asthma, fever, diarrhea, excessive urination, vomiting and dermatosis.

Allmania nodiflora (L.) R.Br. ex Wight

 

Scientific name: Allmania nodiflora (L.) R.Br. ex Wight

Family: Amaranthaceae

Synonym: Celosia nodiflora L.

Vernacular name in Malayalam: Petharthaval, Pekkozhuppa

Habit: Annual, erect or ascending herb, 10–50 cm tall, with branched stems near the base.

Habitat: Commonly found in seasonally dry areas, including roadsides, open fields, and disturbed sites.

Distribution: Native to the Indian Subcontinent, extending to China (Guangxi), and Western & Central Malesia.

Flowering and Fruiting: Produces globose flower-heads, becoming somewhat elongated, with 3–7-flowered cymes; flowers can be greenish or orange-red.

Key identification features: Obovate, oblong, or linear leaves; globose to somewhat elongated flower-heads; bracts and bracteoles ovate-lanceolate, white on margin with green or purple midvein, apex long acuminate.

Uses: Traditionally used in folk medicine for various ailments; consumed as a leafy vegetable in some regions.

Chenopodium album L.

 

Scientific name: Chenopodium album L.

Family: Amaranthaceae

Synonym: Chenopodium album subsp. album 

Vernacular name in Malayalam: Vastukkeera

Habit: Annual, erect herb with branched, green stems and mealy coating on leaves.

Habitat: Grows in cultivated fields, waste places, roadsides, and open disturbed soils.

Distribution: Widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions of the world; native to Europe and Asia.

Flowering and Fruiting: Flowers and fruits throughout the year; small, greenish, inconspicuous flowers arranged in dense terminal panicles; seeds are tiny and black.

Key identification features: Erect, branched stems; alternate, ovate to triangular leaves often covered with a mealy coating; tiny green flowers in dense clusters; small black seeds.

Uses: Young leaves and shoots are consumed as leafy vegetables; used in traditional medicine for digestive disorders, inflammation, and as a mild laxative.

Ruta graveolens L.

 

Scientific name: Ruta graveolens L.

Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Ruta divaricata Ten.

Vernacular name in Malayalam: Arootha

Habit: Woody, perennial shrub with aromatic, bluish-green, bipinnate leaves.

Habitat: Native to the Mediterranean region; cultivated in gardens and herbal plantations worldwide.

Distribution: Widely distributed in Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia; naturalized in temperate regions globally.

Flowering and Fruiting: Flowers from late spring to summer; produces small, yellow, four-petaled flowers in cymes; fruits are five-lobed capsules.

Key identification features: Strongly aromatic, bluish-green leaves; small, yellow flowers; woody base; bitter taste.

Uses: Traditionally used in herbal medicine for its emmenagogue and abortifacient properties; utilized as a culinary herb in small quantities; employed as an insect repellent and room deodorizer; holds cultural significance in various traditions.

Persicaria glabra (Willd.) M.Gómez

 

Scientific name: Persicaria glabra (Willd.) M.Gómez

Family: Polygonaceae

Synonym: Polygonum glabrum Willd.

Vernacular name in Malayalam: Cherumukkala, Chuvannamuthalamookku, Kozhivalan

Habit: Perennial, sprawling or climbing herb with slender stems.

Habitat: Commonly found in moist, disturbed areas such as roadsides, riverbanks, and open fields.

Distribution: Native to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia; widely distributed in India, Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa.

Flowering and Fruiting: Flowers throughout the year; produces small, pink to reddish flowers arranged in terminal or axillary spikes; fruits are small achenes.

Key identification features: Slender, creeping stems; lanceolate to ovate leaves with a pointed apex; small, clustered pink to reddish flowers; tiny, dark-colored achenes.

Uses: Used in traditional medicine for wounds, inflammation, and skin diseases; young shoots and leaves sometimes consumed as vegetables; planted as ground cover to prevent soil erosion.

Alternanthera pungens Kunth

 

Scientific name: Alternanthera pungens Kunth

Family: Amaranthaceae

Synonym: Achyranthes leiantha (Seub.) Standl.

Vernacular name in Malayalam: Ottara mul, Thevadiyaal

Habit: Perennial, low-growing, prostrate to spreading herb with stiff, spiny stems.

Habitat: Found in dry, open grasslands, roadsides, and wastelands; often in sandy or rocky soils.

Distribution: Native to tropical America; widely naturalized in Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Flowering and Fruiting: Flowers throughout the year; produces small, whitish to pinkish flowers in dense clusters; seeds are tiny achenes.

Key identification features: Stiff, spiny stems; small, narrow, pungent-tipped leaves; clustered small flowers; often forms dense mats on the ground.

Uses: Traditionally used in folk medicine for wounds, inflammation, and skin ailments; sometimes used as ground cover to prevent soil erosion, edible.

Sida cordata (Burm.f.) Borss.Waalk.

 

Family: Malvaceae

Synonym: Sida beddomei K.C.Jacob 

Vernacular name: Kuruntotti, Nela-vaga, Palkurunthotti, Vallikurunthotti

Habit: Herb

Habitat: All types of Habitats from sandy sea coasts to deciduous forests

Distribution: Tropical and Subtropical Asia

Flowering and Fruiting: January-April

Key identification features: A prostrate herb with broadly ovate or orbicular leaves. The leaves are stellate-tomentose on both sides. Its flowers are axillary and solitary, with yellow petals and numerous yellow anthers. Fruit is a capsule.

Uses: A paste of the root is applied as a poultice to remove pus from boils and wounds.