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Brahmi
Brahmi/Gotu Kota/ Centella asiatica/Indian Pennywort
Gotu kola is a wonder herb for cognitive functions. This creeper is a living brain tonic mostly found as a wild growth, growing along streams and canals and water pumps for its love of water.
Brahmi(Gotu kola) is native to the wetlands in Asia. It is used as a culinary vegetable
in some regions and as a medicinal herb in Ayurveda. It grows in temperate and tropical swampy areas very easily.The stems are slender, creeping stolons, green to reddish-green in color that connecting plants to each other.
Benefits
As per Ayurveda the plant is said to have power to boost brain, heal skin issues, and promote liver and kidney health. Gotu kola has the ability to enhance memory and nerve function, which gives it potential in treating Alzheimer’s disease. In ayurvedic medicine Gotu kola is used for a broader range of diseases relating to brain such as depression, anxiety etc. Leaves of the plants are harvested and used in varios preprations such as powders, concoctions, oil etc. Gotu kola, inspite of having medicinal properties, is considered safe for culinary uses.
How to grow?
Gotu kola has rooting at nodes and can easily be propagated by rooted suckers and seeds. We personally have always transplanted root nodes and this way it is very easy to propagate. Just pluck out a node from parent plant and pot it.
Water thoroughly after planting. Thereafter, water as needed to keep the soil moist.
It enjoys basking in full sun in a hanging basket under shade. Gotu Kola also is easy to propagate by placing leaflets (still attached to the plant) on damp soil or in water.
Apart from monitoring moisture, there is not much to do for Gotu kola. It grows quite on its own.
Harvest
The plant can literally grow from every dimension. Once the creeper gets quite bushy, you can easily chop the leaves , preferably from the tips, as this encourages branched growth. Once it forms a bush, there is no looking back, you can harvest as much as you want and it will grow back.