Creeping Sebastiana, Sanke’s tongue
Genus: Microstachys
Botanical name: Microstachys chamaelea
PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
Sanskrit: Kshudreranda, Bhumiyeranda
Hindi:
English: Creeping Sebastiana, Sanke’s tongue
Malayalam: Njettavanakku, Odiyavanakku, Kodiyavanakku
MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Creeping Sebastiana is an annual herb, 20-60 cm tall. Alternately arranged leaves are thick-papery, linear or linear-lanceshaped, 2-5.5 cm long, 2 – 10 mm wide, tip blunt, margins densely toothed, usually with glands. Midrib is prominent on both surfaces. Leaf-stalks are short, about 2 mm long. Flowers appear in 5-12 mm long spikes, laterally or at the end of branches. Male flowers are numerous, spirally arranged at upper part of inflorescence axis, female ones 1 or several inserted at lower part of inflorescence axis. Capsules are triangular-spherical, 3-4 mm in diameter.
The whole plant of Creeping Sebastiana is used for vata, pitta, diarrhea, dysentery, hemorrhage, hemorrhoids, menorrhagia, leucorrhea and skin diseases.