Chitki, Roast potato plant, Phyllanthus reticulatus

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Chitki or Roast potato plant (Phyllanthus reticulatus, family: Euphorbiaceae) is a erect, dense and deciduous shrub with many branches, attaining a height of 3-4 m. The plant is found in Tropical Africa, Southeast Asia, and Australia.


Common names: Chitki, Chhitki, Panjuli, Pankushi, Potato plant, Roast potato plant.


 Leaves are small, elliptic, round at the base,; alternate, 2-5 cm long.


The flowers appear in April-May before or with the leaves. They are very small greenish-yellow with a reddish tinge, 3 cm long, clustered on the tips of short slender branches. One female flower appears among a group of male flowers in a cluster


6 to many-seeded fruit is small, flat round, violet or red-purplish when ripe. As a wild fruit village children eat these tasty berry and color their mouths purple frequently. 


Its leaves are stomachic. Bark and leaves are used as uretic and antidote to fever. It grows in fallow land, on the bank of ditches, ponds and deserted lands in Bangladesh. Propagation of the plant is caused by seeds.

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