Centella asiatica | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Apiales |
Family: | Apiaceae |
Genus: | Centella |
Species: | C. asiatica |
Binomial name | |
Centella asiatica | |
Synonyms [2] | |
Hydrocotyle asiatica L. Contents |
Centella asiatica, commonly known as Indian pennywort, Asiatic pennywort, spadeleaf, coinwort or gotu kola, [3] is a herbaceous, perennial plant in the flowering plant family Apiaceae. [2] It is native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, and islands in the western Pacific Ocean. [2] [4] [5] [6] It is consumed as a culinary vegetable and is used in traditional medicine. [2]
Centella grows in temperate and tropical swampy areas in many regions of the world. [2] The stems are slender, creeping stolons, green to reddish-green in color, connecting plants to each other. [2] It has long-stalked, green, rounded apices which have smooth texture with palmately netted veins. [2] The leaves are borne on pericladial petioles,[ clarification needed ] around 2 cm (0.79 in). The rootstock consists of rhizomes, growing vertically down. They are cream in color and covered with root hairs. [2]
The flowers are white or crimson in color, born in small, rounded bunches (umbels) near the surface of the soil. [2] Each flower is partly enclosed in two green bracts. The hermaphrodite flowers are minute in size, less than 3 mm (0.12 in), with five to six corolla lobes per flower. Each flower bears five stamens and two styles. The fruit are densely reticulate, distinguishing it from species of Hydrocotyle which have smooth, ribbed or warty fruit. [6] The crop matures in three months, and the whole plant, including the roots, is harvested manually. It is a highly invasive plant, rated as "high risk". [2] Centella has numerous common names in its regions of distribution. [2]
Centella asiatica is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent (including Sri Lanka), Southeast Asia, parts of Australia, and wetland regions of the Southeastern US. [7] [8] Because the plant is aquatic, it is especially sensitive to biological and chemical pollutants in the water, which may be absorbed into the plant. It can be cultivated in drier soils, including sandy loam,[ citation needed ] as long as they are watered regularly enough (such as in a home garden arrangement). [9]
Centella contains pentacyclic triterpenoids and trisaccharide derivatives, including asiaticoside, brahmoside, asiatic acid, and brahmic acid (madecassic acid). Other constituents include centellose, centelloside, and madecassoside. [10] [11] [12] Approximately 124 chemical compounds have been isolated and identified from Centella asiatica. [13] Long term use on the skin can cause severe health problems including: skin irritation, intoxicated blood, red eyes and problems with the lymph nodes.
In Burmese cuisine, raw pennywort is used as the main constituent in a salad mixed with onions, crushed peanuts, bean powder and seasoned with lime juice and fish sauce. [14] Centella is used as a leafy green in Sri Lankan cuisine, being the predominantly locally available leafy green, where it is called gotu kola or vallaarai. It is most often prepared as malluma, a traditional accompaniment to rice and vegetarian dishes, such as lentils, and jackfruit or pumpkin curry. It is considered nutritious. In addition to finely chopped gotu kola plants, the gotu kola malluma may be eaten with grated coconut, diced shallots, lime (or lemon) juice, and sea salt. Additional ingredients are finely chopped green chilis, chili powder, turmeric powder, or chopped carrots. The Centella fruit-bearing structures are discarded from the gotu kola malluma due to their intense bitter taste. A variation of porridge known as kola kanda is also made with gotu kola in Sri Lanka. Gotu kola kanda or Vallaarai kanji is made with well-boiled red rice with some extra liquid, coconut milk first extract, and gotu kola purée. The porridge is accompanied with jaggery for sweetness. Centella leaves are also used in modern sweet pennywort drinks and herbal teas. In addition the leaves are served stir-fried whole in coconut oil, or cooked in coconut milk with garlic or dhal.
In Indonesia, the leaves are used for sambai oi peuga-ga, an Aceh type of salad, and is also mixed into asinan in Bogor. In Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, this leaf is used for preparing a drink or can be eaten in raw form in salads or cold rolls. In Bangkok, vendors in the Chatuchak Weekend Market sell it alongside coconut, roselle, chrysanthemum, orange and other health drinks. In Malay cuisine it is known as pegaga, and the leaves of this plant are used for ulam, a type of vegetable salad. [2] C. asiatica is widely used in various Indian regional cuisines. In Bangladesh and India (specifically in West Bengal), Centella is called Thankuni Pata and used in various dishes, one of the most appetising of which is the pakora-like snack called Thankuni Patar Bora; made of mashed Centella, lentils, julienned onion and green chilli.
In traditional medicine, C. asiatica has been used to treat various disorders, dermatological conditions, [15] and minor wounds, [2] although clinical efficacy and safety have not been investigated in clinical trials. [16] Contact dermatitis and skin irritation can result from topical application. [16] Drowsiness may occur after consuming it. [16] With use over weeks, adverse effects may include liver disease. [16]
C. asiatica has been shown to activate telomerase more than any other known compound yet discovered: 8.8-fold. This exceeds the activation by other known telomerase activators: oleanolic acid 5.9-fold, Astragalus extract 4.3-fold, TA-65 2.2-fold, and maslinic acid 2-fold. [17]
In the context of phytoremediation, C. asiatica is a potential phytoextraction tool owing to its ability to take up and translocate metals from root to shoot when grown in soils contaminated by heavy metals. [18]
Dill is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is native to North Africa, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula; it is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food.
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Thai cuisine is the national cuisine of Thailand.
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Assamese cuisine is the cuisine of the Indian state of Assam. It is a style of cooking that is a confluence of cooking habits of the hills that favour fermentation and drying as forms of preservation and those from the plains that provide extremely wide variety of fresh vegetables and greens, and an abundance of fish and meat. Both are centred on the main ingredient — rice. It is a mixture of different indigenous styles with considerable regional variations and some external influences. The traditional way of cooking and the cuisine of Assam is very similar to South-East Asian countries such as Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and others. The cuisine is characterized by very little use of spices, little cooking over fire, and strong flavours due mainly to the use of endemic exotic fruits and vegetables that are either fresh, dried or fermented. Fish is widely used, and birds like duck, pigeon, squab, etc. are very popular, which are often paired with a main vegetable or ingredient; beef used to be eaten before British colonialism, and some continue to do so. Preparations are rarely elaborate. The practice of bhuna, the gentle frying of spices before the addition of the main ingredients so common in Indian cooking, is absent in the cuisine of Assam. The preferred oil for cooking is the pungent mustard oil.
Tamil cuisine is a culinary style of Tamil people originating in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and neighboring Sri Lanka. Meats, along with rice, legumes, and lentils, are popular. Dairy products and tamarind are used to provide sour flavors. On special occasions, traditional Tamil dishes are served in a traditional manner, using banana leaves in place of utensils. After eating, the banana leaves are then used as a secondary food for cattle. A typical breakfast meal consists of idli or dosa with chutney. Lunch includes rice, sambar, curd, kuzhambu, and rasam.
Peranakan cuisine or Nyonya cuisine comes from the Peranakans, descendants of early Chinese migrants who settled in Penang, Malacca, Singapore and Indonesia, inter-marrying with local Malays. In Baba Malay, a female Peranakan is known as a nonya, and a male Peranakan is known as a baba. The cuisine combines Chinese, Malay, Javanese, South Indian, and other influences.
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Pandanus amaryllifolius is a tropical plant in the Pandanus (screwpine) genus, which is commonly known as pandan. It has fragrant leaves which are used widely for flavouring in the cuisines of Southeast Asia. It is also featured in some South Asian cuisines and in Hainanese cuisine from China.
Oleanolic acid or oleanic acid is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid related to betulinic acid. It is widely distributed in food and plants where it exists as a free acid or as an aglycone of triterpenoid saponins.
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