Acalypha indica L.

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Equisetopsida > Malpighiales > Euphorbiaceae > Acalypha > A. indica

Common name [English]: Indian Acalypha, Poison bush

Vernacular name [Malayalam]: കുപ്പമണി

Nativity: Eritrea to S. Africa, Arabian Peninsula to Tropical & Subtropical Asia.

Habitat: Common, on wastelands, in moist and shaded places, riverbanks.

Description: Annual herbs, to 60 cm tall; stem striate, pubescent. Leaves are broadly ovate, base rounded to shortly attenuate, margin crenate-serrate, apex acute or obtuse, basally 5-nerved; petiole 1.5-5.5 cm long. Spikes axillary, monoecious, rachis ending in a triradiate hood at the tip. Male flowers above, ebracteate, minute, clustered; anthers vermiculiform. Female flowers below subtended by foliaceous, suborbicular-cuneiform, many-nerved, toothed bracts; ovary hispid, 3-lobed; styles 3, each bifid. Capsules 3-valved, concealed by bract, hispid. Seeds ovoid, smooth, grey, with a flattened linear caruncle. Allomorphic female flowers each producing 1 seed, identical to those of the trimerous flowers.

Flowering and Fruiting: July - December

Uses: The leaf paste is given as a cure for asthma and bronchitis, Ayurveda, Folk medicine, Homoeopathy, Folk medicine, Siddha

Cultivation: Cultivated/wild

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org