Description

Aquatic Rotula is a species of aromatic flowering shrub in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It is a rare rheophyte native to India, where it is a member of the lotic ecosystem of streams,  branching, under shrub usually grows up to 2 m tall with numerous short lateral arrested branchlets often rooting, aromatic, pinkish and glabrous, mostly found in the rocky riverbeds.

Characteristics:

Aquatic Rotula is a small branched shrub that grows characteristically among rocks and trailing over gravel in steam beds. It is pantropic in distribution. This shrub or bush reaches a height of 2-3 m. The leaves are alternate, overlapping, ovate-oblong, usually 0.8-1.5 cm in length, and short-stalked. The flowers are small and crowded, and are borne in clusters at the end of branches. There are 5 narrow sepals which are about 4.5 mm long, with sharp points. The flowers are purple or pink, 5-6 mm long, with 5 petals. The fruit is somewhat rounded, fleshy, and about 4 mm in diameter, and contains four seeds.

Medicinal uses:

It is used in traditional medicine for kidney and bladder stones, the root of the plant tubers are useful in treating coughs, fever, poisonings heart diseases, blood disorders, ulcers. The roots are bitter, astringent, cooling, diuretic, antirheumatic and laxative