Dendrocnide sinuata (Blume) Chew

Family: Urticaceae

Synonym: Laportea sinuata (Blume) Miq.                           

Bengali/Vernacular name: Bangla dandi, Laua-chutra, Sutra.

Tribal name: Mang jaiah (Marma).

English name: Devil nettle, Elephant fever nettle, Mouse nettle. 

Description of the Plant: A dioecious shrub or small tree, up to 10 m tall, twigs with irritant hairs pointing downwards. Leaves 20 x 10 cm, elliptic to oblong-lanceshaped, pointed at either ends, entire or rounded toothed, lateral nerves 9 pairs, leaf-stalk to 6 cm long. Inflorescence a slender panicle, dichotomously branched with flowers in loose fascicles, peduncles densely covered with irritant hairs. Flowers monoecious or dioecious; male tepals 4 or 5, ovate, cup-shaped; female tepals 4, ovate, free, velvet-hairy; stamens 4, free; pistillode club-shaped. Fruit an achene, asymmetrically pyriform.

Plant parts Used: Leaf, root.

Traditional Uses: Juice extracted from the roots of the plant is used to treat chronic fever.
Decoction prepared from the roots of the plant is taken to treat jaundice.
Poultice of the plant is applied to treat boils, wounds, burns, and rashes.
The leaves of the plant are externally applied against scabies.

Distribution: This species is found in the forests of Sylhet, Mymensingh, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Chittagong districts, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

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