Scientific name: Breynia retusa (Dennst.) Alston
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Synonym: Phyllanthus retusus Dennst., Breynia patens (Roxb.) Rolfe
Bengali/Vernacular name: Chitki, Kantokushi, Akdana, Kantakoi (Bengali); Heza (Mymensingh); Kamkoi (Chittagong).
Tribal name: Taipak, Shukujja gas, Hamussa gas (Chakma); Heja (Garo); Bobipui (Khumi); Fai-mong (Marma); Konku, Kongkoi (Tanchangya).
English name: Cup saucer plant, Cupped coral-berry tree.
Description of the plant: A shrub or small tree, much-branched, spreading, almost horizontal. Alternately arranged leaves, 1-3 cm, broadly elliptic, obtuse, with a rounded tip. Flowers are unisexual, in leaf axils, on filament-like peduncles. Male flowers 1-3 fascicled, yellow; female green; sepals 6, round. Fruit a capsule, depressed-globose, 13-17 mm in diameter, faintly 3-lobed.
Plant parts used: Leaf, stem.
Ethnomedicinal uses: Fresh juice is extracted from the stems of the plant are applied on the affected eye three times a day (one drop each time) until the conjunctivitis is cured.
A paste is made with the leaves of the plant are applied on the boils to treat it.
Distribution: The species commonly occurs in the forests of Sylhet, Chittagong, and Chittagong Hill Tracts districts.
Is this plant misidentified? If yes, please tell us….
