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Acalypha indica L.

Family	:	Euphorbiaceae
Local name	:	Malayalam-Kuppameni
Flowering and fruiting period	:	July-December
Distribution	:	Indo-Malesia and Tropical Africa
Distribution in kerala	:	Wayanad, Palakkad, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kollam, Idukki, Malappuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikkode, Thrissur
Habitat	:	Dry deciduous forests and also in the plains
Uses	:	Used in traditional medicine for treating many diseases such as gonorrhoea, diarrhoea, dysentery, chest pain, ear infections, piles, wounds, epilepsy, and are also used as a purgative. The root infusion or decoction is taken to treat asthma.
Key Botanical Characters: Annual herbs, to 60 cm tall; stem striate, pubescent. Leaves 1.2-6.5 x 1-3.8 cm, broadly ovate, base rounded to shortly attenuate, margin crenate-serrate, apex acute or obtuse, basally 5-nerved; petiole 1.5-5.5 cm long. Spikes axillary, 2.5-6.2 cm long, monoecious, rachis ending in a triradiate hood at the tip. Male flowers above, ebracteate, minute, clustered; anthers vermiculiform. Female flowers below subtended by foliaceous, 3-7 mm long, suborbicular-cuneiform, many-nerved, toothed bracts; ovary hispid, 3-lobed; styles 3, each 2-fid. Capsules 3-valved, concealed by bract, hispid.