Andrographis echioides (L.) Nees Family: Acanthaceae
Common name: False Water willow
Gujarati: Kalukariyatun
Malayalam: Pitumba
Marathi: Ranchimani
Oriya: lavalata
Tamil: Gopuram tangi
Description: Erect herbs, 10-50 cm high. Whole plant villous. Leaves opposite decussate, 3-5 x 0.6-1.8 cm, elliptic oblong, obtuse to round at apex, attenuate at base. Inflorescence axillary, short unilateral racemes, simple or 1-2 branched, as long as or shorter than leaves. Calyx deeply 5-lobed; lobes 0.8-1 cm long, linear. Corolla tube 0.8-1 cm long, white, 2-lipped; lip with violet blotches; upper lip 2-lobed, 0.6-0.8 cm long, lower c. 0.8 cm long, 3-lobed. Stamens 2; filaments broad, hairy at base; anthers 2-celled. Style slender; stigma 2-fid. Capsules 0.8-1.2 cm long, 0.25-0.3 cm wide, compressed, broadened towards tip, attenuate at base, sparsely hairy towards tip. Seeds 0.15-0.2 cm across, black, pitted without; retinacula spiny.
Used in Sidha. Whole plant pounded in mustard oil and paste applied on snakebite, also whole plant dried and powdered, mixed with water and drunk; whole plant decoction in fever, dysentery, stomachache and liver disorders. Leaves juice used as a febrifuge, cathartic, anthelmintic, laxative, alterative, stomachic, antimalarial; leaf paste applied to cure headache; leaves decoction given in fever and jaundice, against intestinal worms and for constipation. Properties and uses of this plant considered similar to those of Andrographis paniculata. [CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants]
22 Published articles of Andrographis echioides
