Flagellaria indica L.

Family: Flagellariaceae

Synonym: Flagellaria minor Blume                        

Bengali/Vernacular name: Ban chanda, Harcharal.

English name: Indian rattan lily, Rattan creeper.

Description of the Plant: A glabrous climbing shrub with a long slender stem. Leaves up to 30 cm long, lanceolate with many parallel nerves and cirrhose tips. Flowers white, borne in clusters, shortly pedunculated, with irregular laxly branched panicles, 15-30 cm long.  Fruits rounded and smooth, red when mature, about 5 mm in diameter; seeds globose or ovoid.

Plant parts Used: Leaf, stem, flower, and root.

Traditional Uses: Paste prepared from leaves and stems of the plant is applied to the affected area once a day for two days to treat cutting wound.
The root is boiled and the infusion, about 150 ml 3 times daily is taken for 3 days, as health tonic.
Young leaves used for making hair wash and to promote hair growth.
Decoction of flowers and leaves is used as diuretic.
A decoction of the leaves is drunk as a treatment for asthma, general shortness of breath, and fever.
The fresh stalk is chopped into small pieces in water and the filtrate is drunk in order to relieve stomach ache, dysentery, and diarrhea.
Decoction prepared from roots of the plant is taken for influenza, cough, and vomiting treatment.
Fresh juice extracted from leaves and stems of the plant is taken thrice a day until the dysuria is cured.
Pea-sized pills made with the leaves and stems of the plant are given twice a day (one pill each time) for three days after completion of the menstruation cycle for contraception.
Decoction prepared from leaves and stems of the plant is taken thrice a day (5 ml amount each time) for one week to treat influenza.

Distribution: It is commonly found in the fresh water zone of the Sundarbans, also in the coastal areas of Chittagong, Noakhali, and Patuakhali districts.

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