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Centella asiatica
Also called Centella, Asiatic pennywort, Thankuni, Asian Pennywort, Indian Pennywort, Gotu Kola, Marsh Pennywort
Centella asiatica is a creeping, low-growing perennial herb of wet, swampy ground, grown for its round leaves and as a culinary and medicinal herb. The key to growing it is steady moisture and a spot with plenty of light but not harsh midday sun.
Centella asiatica, commonly known as Indian pennywort, Asiatic pennywort, spadeleaf, coinwort or gotu kola, is a herbaceous, perennial plant in the flowering plant family Apiaceae. It is native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, and islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is consumed as a culinary vegetable and is used in traditional medicine.
Reviews in 2024 indicated that consuming foods or dietary supplements containing C. asiatica may cause adverse effects, including contact dermatitis, jaundice and liver disease. There have been case reports of liver disease associated with use over multiple weeks.
Centella grows in temperate and tropical swampy areas in many regions of the world. C. asiatica is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent (including Sri Lanka), Southeast Asia, parts of Australia, and wetland regions of the Southeastern US. Because the plant is aquatic, it is especially sensitive to biological and chemical pollutants in the water, which may be absorbed into the plant. It can be cultivated in drier soils, including sandy loam, as long as they are watered regularly enough (such as in a home garden arrangement).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Centella asiatica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
