Acalypha indica

Dublin Core

Title

Acalypha indica

Subject

Taxonomy
Phylum : Tracheophyta
Class    : Magnoliopsida
Order    : Malpighiales
Family   : Euphorbiaceae
Genus   : Acalypha
Species : Acalypha indica

Synonyms
Acalypha bailloniana Müll.Arg., Acalypha chinensis Benth., Acalypha cupamenii Dragend., Acalypha decidua Forssk., Acalypha fimbriata Baill., Acalypha somalensis Pax., Acalypha somalium Müll.Arg., Acalypha spicata Forssk., Cupamenis indica (L.) Raf., Ricinocarpus baillonianus (Müll.Arg.) Kuntze, Ricinocarpus deciduus (Forssk.) Kuntze, Ricinocarpus indicus (L.) Kuntze.

Common name
Chika mas, Kucing galak, Lis-lis, Rumput lis-lis, Rumput lislis, Tjeka mas, Indian acalypha, Indian nettle,
Three-seeded mercury

Description

Characteristics
An erect and annual herb that can grow up to 1.5 m tall.

Morphology

Leaves
Rhombic-ovate, measure (1-)3-5(-7) cm x (1-)2.5-3(-5) cm, wedge-shaped at base, with shallowly serrate margin and petiole 2-6 cm long.

Inflorescences
Bisexual, solitary and with short slender male portion while the female flowers are fewer and less crowded than in A. lanceolata. They arewith broad bracts, shallowly and obtusely toothed, which are much less closely nerved and produce allomorphic female flowers at the apex.

Fruit
2-2.5 mm in diametre.

Chemical compound
Cyanogenetic glucoside, triacetonamine and quebrachitol

Plant part used
Leaves

Traditional uses
  • A mixture of the juice and that of the leaves from the neem tree (Azadirachta indica) acts as an expectorant and is given for bronchitis, diarrhea, and vomiting.
  • Cooked leaves are eaten to alleviate asthma, hypertension, impurities in the blood and to treat various illnesses in infants.
  • Other preparations are taken to relieve inflammation of the joints, fevers caused by chest colds and infections, asthma and a burning sensation in the windpipe.
  • A decoction is used as an emetic to cure pleurisy, cleanse and clear breathing passages and alleviate swelling of the windpipe, as well as to cure asthma, hypertension, and skin problems caused by impurities in the blood.
  • The juice is considered a remedy for ringworm, scabies, and rashes - a mixture of the juice and neem (Azadirachta indica) oil is used for various skin diseases that cause itching.
  • A mixture of the leaves and castor oil is applied to relieve joint aches.
  • Leaf juice is also used as eardrops for ear infections, earaches and other ear problems.
  • Crushed and applied as a poultice and leaves are used to heal sores.
  • Stir-fried, they are eaten with large prawns to alleviate exhaustion and fatigue but with dried nga-mway-toh (Mastacembelus armatus) fish to prevent inflammation of the appendix- the same mixture is used to alleviate constipation, diarrhea and nagging stomachaches.
  • Boiled leaves made into a salad are eaten to treat lung disease, neurological disease, ringing in the ear, earache, gastric pain and stomach-ache.

Medicinal uses
  • Postcoital infertility activity - The petroleum ether and ethanol extracts of A. indica were found to have anti-implantation activity.This effect is due to some estrogenic activity as evidenced by histological studies of the uterus.
  • Wound healing activity - Studies found that A. indica does have wound healing ability, however, it is inferior to Heliotropium indicum which has better activity and tensile strength.
  • A. indica is a common weed while Viper russelli russelli is amongst the deadliest snakes in the world. Shirwaika et al associated the two together when they investigated the ability of the A. indica to neutralise the snake’s venom. 

List of country
West Africa, India, Indo-China, Philippines, Java, Borneo and Eastern Malaysia

Creator

Acalypha indica (Linnaeus, 1753)

Publisher

Nur Athirah Roshaizi

Contributor

Nur Athirah Roshaizi

Language

English

Collection

Kingdom Plantae

Citation

Acalypha indica (Linnaeus, 1753), “Acalypha indica,” BIDARA, accessed February 4, 2026, https://bidara.uthm.edu.my/items/show/372.

Output Formats

Geolocation