Common name: Gotu Kola
Latin name: Centella asiatica
Other names: Centenella, Asiatic Pennywort, Indian Pennywort
Family: Mackinlayaceae
Habitat: Gotu Kola is native to India, Japan, China, south Africa and south Pacific. Grows in low wet areas.
Useful Components: Vitamins A, B, C and D, volatile oil, calcium, chromium, cobalt, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, selenium, silica, zinc.
Medicinal Uses:
Gotu Kola is considered to be an adaptogen, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anxiolytic, diuretic, digestive, nervine, and vulnerary. Gotu Kola is excellent in treatment of varicose veins. It can help reduce swelling, repair connective tissues and improve circulation. It increases keratinisation, and appears to be very helpful in wound healing, treatment of bruises, sores and ulcers. It is one of the most valuable herbs in Ayurvedic medicine, because it revitalizes nerve and brain cells, increases memory and concentration, and has an overall rejuvenating effect on our body. It enhances metabolic processes, and is often referred to as an “elixir of life”.
Treatment of wounds, burns, and ulcerous skin ailments, and prevention of keloid and hypertrophic scars. Extracts of the plant have been employed to treat second- and third-degree burns. Extracts have been used topically to accelerate healing, particularly in cases of chronic postsurgical and post-trauma wounds. Extracts have been administered orally to treat stressinduced stomach and duodenal ulcers.
Uses described in pharmacopoeias and well established documents:
Herba Centellae is reported to be used in the treatment of leprous ulcers and venous disorders Studies suggest that extracts of Centella asiatica cause regression of inflammatory infiltration of the liver in cirrhosis patients. Further experimentation is needed to confirm these findings.
Uses described in traditional medicine:
Therapy of albinism, anaemia, asthma, bronchitis, cellulite, cholera, measles, constipation, dermatitis, diarrhoea, dizziness, dysentery, dysmenorrhoea, dysuria, epistaxis, epilepsy, haematemesis, haemorrhoids, hepatitis, hypertension, jaundice, leukorrhoea, nephritis, nervous disorders, neuralgia, rheumatism, smallpox, syphilis, toothache, urethritis, and varices; and as an antipyretic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and “brain tonic” agent. Poultices have been used to treat contusions, closed fractures, sprains, and furunculosis.