1205

 Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.) Kurz 

Synonym	:	Vereia pinnata (Lam.) Spreng.
Family	:	Crassulaceae
Local Name		Malayalam-Aakasachedi English- Miracle leaf
Flowering and fruiting period	:	December-March
Distribution	:	Originally from Tropical Africa; now Pantropical
Distribution in kerala		All districts
Habitat	:	Rocky areas in moist deciduous forests,
Endemic/Exotic		Exotic
Uses	:	used in ethno medicine for treatment of earache, burns, abscesses, ulcer, insect bites, diarrhea
Key Botanical Characters  :  Subsucculent tall herbs. Leaves decussate, simple, elliptic-ovate, 5-10 by 3-6 cm, base cuneate, margin deeply crenate, apex obtuse to rounded, herbaceous. Inflorescence a cymose panicle. Flowers pendulous; calyx tube lobed above the middle, lobes 4, triangular; corolla greenish, 8-folded, glandular within; stamens 8, inserted above the constriction of corolla; hypogynous scales 4; carpels 4; ovules many. Follicle enclosed with reddish calyx.