Aerva lanata - Mountain Knot Grass

❏ Binomial Name : Aerva lanata (L.) Juss.

❏ Synonym : Achyranthes lanata

❏ Family : Amaranthaceae

❏ Common Name : Mountain Knot Grass 

❏ Tamil Name : Pongalpoovu

❏ Hindi Name : 

❏ IUCN status: Not Evaluated

Aerva lanata Botanical Description

Herbs, white woolly. Leaves 3-4 x 3 cm, orbicular to ovate, apex obtuse, mucronate, pubescent above, densely woolly below, membranous; petiole 1 cm. Spikes axillary, to 1 cm, densely tomentose; bracts and bracteoles 1 mm, ovate; tepals 1.5 mm, oblong, woolly mucronate; filaments basally connate, 0.5 mm, staminodes subulate; ovary 0.4. Fl. &Fr.: September-April

Aerva lanata Medicinal uses

❀ A decoction (the report does not specify the plant part is considered to be an efficacious diuretic and is used against catarrh of the bladder and gonorrhoea.

❀ It is described as one of the best known remedies for bladder and kidney stones. Ayurvedic practitioners recommend a decoction of the plant to be taken internally for a few days to dissolves the stone and to clear the urinary path.

❀ The whole plant is used in religious rituals, especially during the festival of Pongal.

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