Herb. No. 129 · Plantaginaceae
Pantropical wetland creeper — India, Southeast Asia, and warm Africa.
Native · South Asia · Southeast Asia · Africa
Native Also grown
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Bacopa
Bacopa monnieri
A pond-edge succulent of Ayurvedic memory folklore — a small white flower, a bitter leaf, a slow herb.
Bacopa monnieri is a tropical creeping wetland plant, brahmi in many Ayurvedic texts (gotu kola is the other plant that borrowed the name). Traditional use is as a medhya rasayana — a mind tonic — taken for weeks, not as a coffee. The leaf is bitter. Culinary it is not. This plate is a labeled dried herb or a pond-margin pot, not a miracle exam pill.
Flavor
Bitter, green, a little succulent-salt. Honey is how people swallow it.
Parts used
Aerial parts
Helpful
- A real Ayurvedic record
- Grows in a pond pot
Cautions
- Slow
- Can nauseate on an empty stomach
- Name-confusion with gotu kola