The Herbarium
Part I · Medicinal herbs
Herb. No. 154
Andrographis
Andrographis paniculata
Acanthaceae
King of bitters — a South Asian annual whose leaf is a short-course cold folklore, and one of the bitterest cups in the folio.
Bitter herb. Short courses in traditional systems. Not a daily tea.
- Parts used
- Aerial parts
- Traditional notes
- Short-course feverish cold folklore · Bitter before meals in some systems
- Grow · USDA 6b
- Tender annual. Heat. Start indoors, transplant after frost. In work: May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
- Harvest
- Aerial parts as it flowers, dry for a labeled jar — not a daily tin.
- A pinch is a course. A handful is a dare.
- Label the jar BITTER / SHORT COURSE.
Safety
Pregnancy Autoimmune disease without advice A daily pot
Lore
The Tamil name nīlavēmpu already warns you: it is a neem of the field, a bitterness with a job. Scandinavian cold products made it famous in Europe in the 1990s. Chinese chuān xīn lián means ‘thread-the-heart lotus,’ which is how the bitter feels going down.
The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.