| HABIT : A perennial stout creeper, growing on sandy sea shores with stems rooting at
nodes.
|
| LEAVES : Distinctly bilobed, parallel-veined, glabrous. |
| INFLORESCENCE : Solitary or in 3 flowered cymes, peduncles tinged with deep purple or
red,bracts caducous.
|
| FLOWERS : Calyx infundibuliform, sepals outer 2 oblong, obtuse and mucronulate, the
inner sepals ovate-oblong, retuse, mucronulate.
corolla infundibuliform, glabrous, rose or violet in colour.
stamens included, filaments dilated and hairy at base.
|
| FRUITS : Globose, glabrous. Seeds 4, each 8 mm long, covered with brown tomentum. |
| FLOWERING AND FRUTING TIME : Most of the year. |
| The plant parts are used in traditional medicine for treating a wide range of diseases, such as inflammation, gastrointestinal disorders, pain, and hypertension. |
| The plant is mucilaginous and is considered astringent, tonic, alterative, diuretic and purgative. |
| Poultices made from the leaves are commonly used to treat skin affections, ulcers, boils, swellings, stings and wounds. |
| Decoctions are widely administered as anodyne to treat rheumatism, and seeds against stomach-ache. |
