Heliotropium curassavicum

Scientific name: Heliotropium curassavicum L.

Family: Boraginaceae

Synonym: Heliotropium glaucum Salisb.

Bengali/Vernacular name: Nona hatishur.

English name: Salt heliotrope, Seaside heliotrope, Wild heliotrope.

Description of the plant: A glabrous, prostrate, halophytic, perennial succulent herb, 30-80 cm long. Leaves simple, lower opposite, and upper sub-opposite, subsessile, narrowly oblanceolate or linear-spatulate. Inflorescence simple or forked, a spike-like terminal, or dense cymes, 3-10 cm long, lax in fruits. Flowers white, female sessile, bracteate, the middle nerve terminating below the rounded apex.  

Plant parts used: Leaf.

Ethnomedicinal uses: Paste prepared from leaves of the plant is applied on the infected skin twice a day until the boils is cured.

A fresh juice extracted from leaves of the plant, after adding few drops of honey it is taken thrice a day (10 ml amount each time) for three days to treat cough.

A curry cooked with the young shoots of the plant is taken twice a day for ten days to treat anaemia.

Decoction prepared from leaves of the plant is given twice a day until the asthma is cured.

Juice extracted from the leaves of the plant, then the syrup is made with that juice, salt, water, and it is taken twice a day for seven days to treat fever.

Distribution: It occurs in coastal regions in Bhola, Satkhira, and Noakhali districts.

Is this plant misidentified? If yes, please tell us….