| Indian Snake Root |
|
 |
|
| File size | 92630 |
| Original date | 6/27/11 12:47 PM |
| Resolution | 1000 x 750 |
| Flash | Flash did not fire, auto |
| Focal length | 4.6mm |
| Exposure time | 1/100s |
| Aperture | 2.8 |
| Focus Distance | |
| Metering Mode | Spot |
| Camera make | Panasonic |
| Camera model | DMC-FZ18 |
| Sensor type | OneChipColorArea |
 |
 ative |
 |
 |
 |
Photo: |
Botanical name: Ophiorrhiza mungos Family: Rubiaceae (Coffee family)
Indian Snake Root is a herb fames for being effect in
snake bite. Legend has it that the mongoose eats this herb to make
snake-bites ineffective. It is an annual erect herb, rooting at lower
nodes. Leaves are 7-15 x 3-6 cm, elliptic or elliptic-lanceshaped, base
narrowed, tip tapering, papery, hairy on veins below; leaf-stalk up to
1.5 cm; stipules subulate, 3-5 mm long, 2-fid at tip. Flowers are borne
in dense, branched, scorpioid cymes, at branch-ends.
Flower-cluster-stalks are up to 2.5 cm long, rusty velvet-hairy. Sepal
tube is about 1 mm long; lobes obscure. Flowers are 0.8-1 cm long,
white with pink shades on lobes. They are tubular-funnel-shaped or
sometimes constricted near middle, velvet-hairy to hairless. Capsules are 2.5-3 long, 4-6 mm
wide, obheart-shaped, laterally compressed, hairless. Seeds are many,
angular. Indian Snake Root is found in Andaman Islands, Assam;
Bangladesh; China South-Central; East Himalaya; Western Ghats, Jawa;
Malaya; Myanmar; Nicobar Is.; Sri Lanka; Sumatera; Thailand; Vietnam.
Medicinal uses:
Traditionally, the roots are
used against snake bite and the root bark is having sedative and
laxative properties.
Medicinal uses:
Traditionally, the roots are
used against snake bite and the root bark is having sedative and
laxative properties. | Identification credit: Tabish | Photographed in Gangtok, Sikkim. |
• Is this flower misidentified? If yes,