Distribution and Habitat: Throughout India

Botany: An erect, hispid, semi woody, annual herb with numerous fasciculate subquadrangular stems 60-120 cm tall; nodes, hispid with long hairs. 

• Leaves: Sessile, oblong-lanceolate, 10-18 cm x 2-3 cm, in whorls of six at each node, the two outer ones much larger than the four inner ones.
• Flowers: Purple blue, in axillary clusters of 8 at each node; bracts and bracteoles hairy and ciliate. Calyx 4 partite; sepals unequal, one much longer than the other three, all linear lanceolate, hairy and with hyaline ciliate margins. Corolla purple- blue, 2.5-3 cm long; limb 2 lipped; lobes oblong, truncate or rounded.
• Fruit: Capsules linear- oblong, 7-8 mm long, pointed. Seeds 4-8 in number, ovate-quadrate, and black, compressed, hygroscopically hairy, and smooth with mucilaginous coating.

Properties: Diuretic, anti- inflammatory, and aphrodisiac

Chemical constituents: Phytosterol, saponin, histidine, lysine, phenyl alanine, lineoleic , oleic, and stearic acids, xylose , uronic acids , polysaccharides, lupeol, betulin, ascorbic acids , nicotinic acids, and glycoside derivative. 

Uses: It is used in dropsy of chronic Bright’s diseases, inflammations, vesical calculi, jaundice, ascites rheumatism, lumbago, anasarca, and diseases of urino- genital tract, arthritis burning sensation, renal and vesical calculi, rheumatism, and gout

Formulations: Kokilaksha, Talmakhana, Neermulli

Propagation: Seeds