Biophytum sensitivum (L.) DC.

Family: Oxalidaceae

Synonym: Biophytum nervifolium Thwaites                      

Bengali/Vernacular name: Bannaringa, Jhalai.

Tribal name: Arikbel (Pangkhoa).

English name: Sensitive wood-sorrel.

Description of the Plant: Annuals 5-25 cm tall, base woody. Stem simple, slender to robust, hispid especially apically. Leaves 3-13 cm; rachis slender, moderately hispid; leaflets 6-14 pairs; leaflet blades oblong to obovate-oblong, 3-15 × 2-7 mm, usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely covered with trichomes, base almost symmetric. Umbels several flowered; peduncle 2-7 cm, subequal to leaf length; bracts several, lanceolate, ca. 2 mm, densely crowded at apex of peduncle, cluster ca. 3 mm. Pedicel ca. 1 mm at anthesis but to 3 mm in fruit. Sepals 5-6 mm, with glandular septate trichomes. Petals yellow, longer than sepals. Capsule ellipsoid-obovoid.

Plant parts Used: Leaf, root, seed.

Traditional Uses: Decoction prepared from the roots of the plant is advised to take for the treatment of gonorrhea, and bladder stones.
Powdered seeds applied to wounds and abscesses to facilitate suppuration.
Paste made with the leaves of the plant is applied to snakebites and scorpion bites.
Plant decoction is taken for diabetes control.
Juice extracted from the plant is given for asthma treatment.
Traditionally the plant is used in the treatment of stomach ache, insomnia, convulsions, cramps, chest complaints, inflammations, tumors, and remedying chronic skin diseases.

Distribution: The plant is found in forests of Chittagong.

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