Indian Mallow
From DrugPedia: A Wikipedia for Drug discovery
Common name: Indian Mallow, Country Mallow, Abutilon, Indian abutilon • Hindi: कंघी Kanghi • Marathi: पेटारी Petari • Tamil: Paniyaratutti • Malayalam: വെല്ലുരമ് Velluram • Telugu: Tuturabenda • Kannada: Tutti • Bengali: পোটারী Potari
Botanical name: Abutilon indicum
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family) Synonyms: Sida indica
Indian Mallow is an erect velvety-pubescent shrub with circular-ovate or heart-shaped leaves with coarsely crenate-serrate margins. The plant can reach up to 1-2 m. The leaves are alternately arranged, and have long stalks and have velvety, soft, pale hairs on them. Orange-yellow flowers, 2-3 cm across, occur solitary in axils, on long stalks, 4-7 cm. Orange-yellow petals are triangular-obovate, 1 cm long or slightly more, staminal-tube hairy with stellate hairs. Fruit is quite interesting - it is circular in shape, consisting of 11-20 radiating hairy carpels, brown when dry; each carpel flattened, somewhat boatshaped. Seeds are kidney-shaped. The plant is a weed commonly found on disturbed land. Flowering: September-April.
Medicinal uses: Extract of water-soaked dried seeds is used as purgative. Leaves are used as tonic. Roots are taken as infusion in fever.
