Algae and Plants
57
Centella asiatica (L.) (Urban)
Order: Umbelliferae
Family: Apiaceae
Common name: Asiatic pennywort,
Indian pennywort.
Distribution: Southeast Asia, India, Sri
Lanka, China, South Africa, Southeast
United States, eastern South America
(Singh et al., 2010).
Habitat: Wetlands, swampy areas,
ditches.
Description: The stems of this species are slender with creeping  stolons.
They are green to reddish green in color.
It has long-stalked, green, reniform leaves
with rounded apices that have smooth
texture with palmately netted veins. The
leaves are borne on pericladial petioles,
around 2  cm. The  flowers are white or
pinkish  to  red in color, borne  in  small,
rounded bunches (umbels) near the
surface of the soil. Each flower is partly
enclosed in two green bracts. The hermaphrodite flowers are minute in size
(less than 3 mm), with five or six corolla
lobes per flower. The whole plant of this
species is edible.
Nutritional Facts
Proximate Composition of Shoot (% DM)
Fat
CHO a
Protein
1.0
7.0
8.25
a Carbohydrate.
Minerals (% or mg/100 g DM)
P
(%)
N2
(%)
K
(%)
Na
(%)
Fe
(%)
Mg
(mg)
Cu
(mg)
Zn
(mg)
0.62 0.62 0.33 0.08 0.85 0.72 0.12 1.24
Source: Data from Jain et al. (2011).