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CLASSIFICATION

ORDER	: Caryphyllales
FAMILY	: Caryophyllaceae
GENUS	: Mollugo L.
SPECIES	: cerviana (L.) Ser.
BOTANICAL NAME	: Mollugo cerviana (L.) Ser.
SYNONYMS	: ---
COMMON NAME	: Thread-stem carpetweed.
TAMIL NAME	: Chitam
HINDI NAME	: Chirighas

PLANT DESCRIPTION

HABIT:  Thread-Stem Carpetweed is a spreading, often overlooked, annual herb, mostly less than 10 cm tall.

LEAVES:  Leaves are up to 11 per node, linear, 0.6-2.0 cm long, about 1 mm broad; stipules falling off.

FLOWERS :  Flower-stalks are up to 1.4 mm long, slender, hairless. Bracts linear, about 1 mm long. Tepals are free, up to 2 mm long in fruit, slightly inflexed, greenish with a membranous margin, elliptic-oblong. Stamens are 5, alternating with the tepals; filaments dilated at the base, slightly longer than the sepals.

FRUIT:  Capsules are spherical, seeds numerous, angular, with a single low ridge on the keel.

MEDICINAL USES

Thread-Stem Carpetweed is said to have medicinal properties. The plant is cooked as a vegetable and gives as a remedy for fever.

Leaves are chewed to treat cough, constipation, and reduce hangover.

Mollugo cerviana is a common medicinal herb of the Indian subcontinent and has been traditionally used for its fever mitigating anti-microbial and hepatoprotective action.

We have already reported the rich presence of radical scavenging phytochemicals in the plant extracts and their strong antioxidant properties.

IMAGES

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