Peruk

 Peruk

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae

Order:	Apiales
Family:	Apiaceae
Subfamily:	Mackinlayoideae
Genus:	Centella
Species:	C.  asiatica
Binomial name
Centella asiatica
Synonyms
Hydrocotyle asiatica Trisanthus cochinchinensis .

Description:

Centella grows in tropical swampy areas. The stems are slender, creeping stolons, green to reddish-green in color, connecting plants to each other. It has long-stalked, green, reniform leaves with rounded apices which have smooth texture with palmately netted veins. The leaves are borne on pericladial petioles, around 2 cm. The rootstock consists of rhizomes, growing vertically down. They are creamish in color and covered with root hairs.

The flowers are pinkish to red in color, born 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 5-6 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. The crop matures in three months, and the whole plant, including the roots, is harvested manually.

Uses:

Juice of fresh plant with honey is given in stomach ulcers, and urinary troubles. Boiled extract of plant is useful in digestive complaints and dysentery. Powdered leaves are used in skin diseases.

*The plant is diuretic and tonic. A glycoside, asiaticoside shown to be active in the treatment of leprosy has been isolated.