Gima-shak or Pot-biroot, Glinus oppositifolius

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Gima-shak or Pot-biroot (Glinus oppositifolius, family: Molluginaceae) is an annual herb with diffiuse branches and taproot. Stems can be 3 to 40 cm long. Young shoots and branches are silky and sometimes reddish. It is found in waterside area, cropfield, fallow land and damp places in Bangladesh. It occasionally grows on old walls. It is found in the tropical Asia, Africa and in Australia too. 


Leaves are 1-2.5 cm long, elliptic-oblanceolate, petioled, opposite.


Flowers are tiny, white in color, showy, 0.4 cm long, petals 5, stamens 5-10. The flower buds are reddish.


Fruits are ellipsoid, reddish or brownish, 4-5 mm, 3-valved; seeds numerous. The plant is propagated by sedds. 


It can be planted as an ornamenal plant in tub or pot. It is eaten as vegetables in Bangladesh. It is used in constipation, indigestion, itching and various kinds of skin diseases. By the by, like many other herbs the color of the whole plant is occasionally reddish.

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Shachi or Sessile joyweed ( Alternanthera sessilis , family: Amaranthaceae) is a creeping sub-aquatic herb with many branches, attaining a height of 10-35 cm. The branches are formed in pairs from the nodes of the stems. Sometimes it lies on the ground by forming roots from the stem axil.  Other names:  Chanchi, Phul heicha, Haiccha, Shati shak.  Stem is glabrous and usally green but sometimes reddish. Young shoots are minutely hairy. The plant grows near water bodies, in fallow lands, on roadside, even on old wall. It is found everwhere in Bangladesh. It is also found in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Leaves are green, sessile, elliptic-oblanceolate, opposite, 5-6 cm long and 2.5-3.5 cm wide, undulated and dented irregularly, tip rounded.  The inflorescence, round in shape and white in color arises from the leaf axil. These are much like Maloncho (Alligator weed) . Florets are sessile, petals 5. It blooms almost round the year. F
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Kulekhara or Talmakhna ( Hygrophila auriculata , family: Acanthaceae) is a stout and erect herb with straight and undivided stem. The spiny plant is very popular as a medicinal plant in Bangladesh as well as the Indian subcontinent. Other names: Kulekkha, Kuiley-rekha,  Kanta kalika, Shoolmordon. Leaves are lanceolate, subsessile, acute at both ends with long whitish hairs, dense with straight and stout thorns that grow from each node. Outer leaves are longer than the inner ones. Both leaves and thorns remain in upward direction.   Flowers in axillary whorls. They are bright violet or bluish purple and red, sometimes whitish with soft and minor hair, corolla 2-lipped. Flower blooms in the winter. Fruit a capsule, 4-8-seeded. Seeds are ovoid (not in the pic). The body of the plant contains alkaloids, phytosterols, stigmasterol, lupeol and essential oils. Its seeds contain oil, enzymes and sterols. The plant is cooling and diuretic in cases of h
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