Heliotropium indicum L. (Indian heliotrope)

 Heliotropium indicum L.

HATHISHURA - NATIVE TO ASIA !!

COMMON NAME : Indian heliotrope.

BOTANICAL NAME : Heliotropium indicum L.

FAMILY : Boraginaceae (forget me not family)

HABITAT AND HABIT : common weed grows in disturbed areas close to water sources. On sunny, periodically moist, or marshy and desiccating sites; waste places, ditch borders, dried-up pools and ditches, on spread mud, along roads, common weed in waste places and settled areas often very common. Flowering season extended, the first-formed seeds already dropping while there are still unopened buds. Rainfed, upland and rice fields.

DESCRIPTION : commonly known as Indian heliotrope, is an annual, hirsute plant that is a common weed.

ROOT : Woody base with long Taproot-- white or brown.

STEM : It has a hairy stem, erect, grooved, hollow, bearing alternating ovate to oblong-ovate leaves. may be branched or unbranched.

LEAVES : Leaves simple, not lobed or divided, alternate, spiral, or sometimes basal ones opposite, stalked, ovate, more than 2 cm long/wide, hairy, scabrous, margin entire, apex acute, base obtuse or rounded, pinnately veined. Distinctly petiolate, petioles to 5 cm long. Its margin slightly wavy-crisped.

INFLORESCENCE : The inflorescence uncoils after the central flowers, which are the oldest, mature. The flowers are arranged on only one side of the inflorescence.

FLOWER : Flowers are pale violet (lilac) with a yellow throat, but fading to dull white, calyx-lobes linear-lanceolate, ciliate, 2 mm long; corolla-tube 4-5 mm long; petals rounded.

FRUIT : Fruit nut-like, is 3.5 mm long, ovoid, ribbed, separating into 2 nutlets each 2-celled, 3-3.5 mm long. and immature fruit, the two lobes of the fruit are visible.

USES : 
>>Medicinal use:
In fusion of the leaves and young shoots are used to treat nettle rash. Infusion of the flowers taken in small doses regulates menstruation, where large doses are abortive. Decoction of the leaves are used as a vermifuge. Juice of the leaves is antiseptic and anti-inflammation and applied to wounds, sores, boils, gum-boils and pimples on the face. Boiled with castor oil, it is applied to scorption bites. It is also employed locally in nophthalmia, when the cornea is inflamed or excoriated.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE : 
>>In the Philippines, the plant is chiefly used as an herbal medicine. The extracted juice from the pounded leaves of the plants is used to cure wounds, skin ulcers and furuncles. The juice is also used as an eye drop for conjunctivitis. The pounded leaves are used as poultice.

SOURCES : 

>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliotropium_indicum

>>http://www.oswaldasia.org/species/h/helin/helin_en.html

>>http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Indian%20Heliotrope.html

>>http://www.globinmed.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78943%3Aheliotropium-indicum-l-boraginaceae&catid=710%3Ah

Argemone mexicana Linn. (Mexican poppy)

Argemone mexicana Linn.

Medicinal weed ""Satyanashi"" :- POISONOUS PLANT !!

COMMON NAME: Mexican poppy, Mexican prickly poppy, Flowering thistle, Argemone mexicana Linn. known as Ghamoya is an indigenous herb found in India.

BOTANICAL NAME : Argemone mexicana Linn.

FAMILY: Papaveraceae

HABITAT : Habitat: In India it is introducd and naturalised and occur as wasteland weed in almost every part of India. In many parts it is repoorted as crop weed also. Weedy in disturbed areas in waste places, roadsides, old fields, pastures, barnyards, gardens.

RELATED SPECIES: It is native of Tropcal America. The genus Argemone includes 12 species. Some major species are: A. alba Lestib. ( used medicinally in North America ), A. platyceras Link. & Otto., A. grandiflora Sweet.

DESCRIPTION: It is a prickly, glabrous, branching herb with yellow juice and showy yellow flowers, The Sanskrit name svarnakshiri is given because of the yellow juice (Svarna - Gold; Kshiri - Juice ). The height of this plant varies between 0.3 to 0.12 meters, Leaves are thistlelike.

STEM AND LEAF :Stem clasping, Oblong, sinuately pinnatifid ( multiply cut, spiny, with white viens) , spinous and viens are white.

FLOWER: Flowers are terminal, yellow and of 2.5–5.0 cm diameter.

FRUIT: Fruits are capsule. Prickly and oblong ovoid. Seeds numerous, globose, netted and brownish black.

Flowering time is all round the year in Indian conditions. The plants is toxic to animals and cattle avoid grazing this plant. Harmful allelopathic effects of Argemone mexicana on germination and seedling vigour of wheat, mustard, fenugreek, sorghum, fingermillet, tomato, cucumber etc. (important crops in India ) have been reported. The allelochemicals cinnamic and benzoic acid are identified as harmful chemicals responsible for inhibition of germination and seedling vigor.

USEFUL PARTS: Roots, leaves, seeds and yellow juice.

TOXICITY: The seeds resemble the seeds of Brassica nigra (mustard). As a result, mustard can be adulterated by argemone seeds, rendering it poisonous. Several significant instances of katkar poisoning have been reported in India, Fiji, South Africa and other countries. The last major outbreak in India occurred in 1998. 1% adulteration of mustard oil by argemone oil has been shown to cause clinical disease.
Katkar oil poisoning causes epidemic dropsy, with symptoms including extreme swelling, particularly of the legs.

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES AND USES: According to Ayurveda the plant is diuretic. purgative and destroys worms. It cures lepsory, skin-diseases, inflammations and bilious fevers. Roots are anthelmintic. Juice is used to cure ophthalmia and opacity of cornea. Seeds are purgative and sedative. Seeds resemble mustard seeds and in India it is used to adulterate mustard seed. Seed yield non edible toxic oil and causes lethal dropsy when used with mustard oil for cooking.

In Homoeopathic system of medicine, the drug prepared from this herb is used to treat the problem caused by tape-worm.

POPULAR AYURVEDIC FORMULATIONS: Svarnakshiri churna and tail

OTHER USES: The plant is found suitable for the reclamation of alkaline soils.

Dried and powdered plants are recommended as green manure as it contain sufficient amount of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium.

Oilcake is used as manure.

Seed oil, popularly known as Satyanashi oil is used as an illuminant, lubricant, in soapmaking, and for protection from termites.

CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS: The plant contains alkaloids as berberine, protopine, sarguinarine, optisine, chelerytherine etc. The seed oil contains myristic, palmitic, oleic, linoleic acids etc.

SOURCES: 
(1)http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Argemme.htm

(2)http://www.pharmainfo.net/reviews/argemone-mexicana-linn-ghamoya-weed-having-great-therapeutic-values-folk-remedies

(3)http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/CropFactSheets/argemone.html

Stellaria media (L.) Vill. (Common Chickenweed)

Stellaria media

"Common Chickenweed"-- cool-season annual plant !!

COMMON NAME: common chickweed, chickenwort, craches, maruns, winterweed.

BOTANICAL NAME: Stellaria media (L.) Vill. (Alsine media)

FAMILY: Carophyllaceae (pink family)

DESCRIPTION: It is a cool-season annual plant native to Europe, which is often eaten by chickens. It is sometimes called common chickweed to distinguish it from other plants called chickweed. The plant germinates in fall or late winter, then forms large mats of foliage. Flowers are small and white, followed quickly by the seed pods. This plant flowers and sets seed at the same time.

STEM: Its has weak stems mostly trail along the ground (for upto about 16inches), but the growing ends may be upright (up to 8inches high). The stems branch very frequently and take root at the leaf junctions. The stem has a single line of hairs running up the side, and this hairy line changes sides at each leaf junction.

LEAF: The leaves are opposite, smooth, and oval (with a point at the tip), and the older leaves are stalked, while the new leaves are not.

FLOWER: Chickweed is just about always flowering, except in the dead of winter. It has tiny white flowers, about a quarter inch in diameter, in the leaf axils or in terminal clusters, with five deeply notched petals that look like ten, and five green sepals that are longer than the petals. The flowers close at night and open in the morning. They also close when it's about to rain. Possibly they respond to changes in air pressure. It does seem that the flowers don't open at all when a low pressure system is lingering. Chickweed also reacts to nightfall by folding its leaves over the growing tip to protect it.

FRUIT: The flowers develop into small capsule-like fruits which contain many tiny seeds (up to 15,000 per plant).

ROOTS: It has a very slender tap root, shallow, fibrous, fragile roots.


OCCURENCE: Common chickweed, an annual or overwintering native plant, is one of the commonest weeds of cultivated land. It also occurs on roadsides, shingle riverbanks, coastal cliffs and in gardens. It is widely distributed over all soil types but is more abundant on lighter soils. It is favoured by high potassium levels and is indicative of high nitrogen and low phosphate and lime levels. It is absent from the most acidic soils. It thrives in areas of soil disturbance and declines when cultivation ceases for a long period. It is sensitive to drought and is one of the first weeds to wilt in dry conditions.

Common chickweed is a frequent weed of cereals, sugar beet and other arable crops. It grows best in cool, humid conditions and is a serious problem in overwintered vegetable and flower bulb crops.

Common chickweed can be very variable in size, habit and general appearance. Some of this may have a genetic basis and some may be due to soil and environmental effects. Summer and winter forms with different growth habits are thought to occur. In the past, common chickweed was often grouped with the closely related species S. neglecta and S. pallida. Three subspecies are recognised but only ssp. media occurs in the UK. Common chickweed populations have been found with resistance to the phenoxy-herbicide mecoprop and to certain sulfonylurea herbicides following repeated use of the chemicals.

Common chickweed is a host of several damaging virus diseases of crop plants. Some viruses can be carried in chickweed seeds that will grow into infected plants. The virus can persist for at least 5 months in seeds buried in soil. Several important nematode species can infest common chickweed.

IMPORTANCE: The weed is an important constituent in the diet of many farmland birds. It has medicinal and therapeutic uses, is rich in vitamin C and may be eaten as a salad vegetable. It can accumulate nitrate nd may become toxic to stock. In addition, it has a relatively high oxalic acid content and a low level of calcium that may have an adverse effect on dietary calcium bioavailability.

MEDICINAL PROPERTY: Medicinally, chickweed is tonic, diuretic, demulcent, expectorant, and mildly laxative. It's often recommended for asthma, bronchitis, or congestion. It's also said to help control obesity and is an ingredient in some herbal weight loss preparations. Externally, chickweed relieves itching and inflammation and is generally soothing and moisturizing. It can be used for any minor skin infections or irritations, and is an ingredient in a number of commercial skin care products. As far as I've been able to discover, this common plant has yet to be thoroughly scientifically studied.

However, the benefits ascribed to chickweed may simply be the result of its high nutritional value, especially the presence of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). The medicinal effects of this fatty acid read much like the values ascribed to chickweed. GLA is recommended for a variety of skin problems, for hormone imbalances as in PMS, and for arthritis. It clears congestion, controls obesity, reduces inflammation, reduces water retention, acts as tonic for the liver, and reduces the negative effects of alcohol abuse.

Chickens and many other birds love chickweed, and eat both the plants and the seeds, which is how it gets its name. If you keep birds as pets, you can feed it to them too.

Chickweed is also one of the primary targets of various broad-leaf herbicides, but as I feel rather strongly about contributing poisons to the ecosystem, I would recommend weeding instead for those people who can't learn to like this useful little plant.

USED AS A FOOD: It has a mild, refreshing flavor. The leaves and stems can be added to salads, cooked as greens, or added to anything you might add greens to (which, to me, is just about everything).Chickweed is particularly high in ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and mucilage, and also provides rutin, para amino benzoic acid (PABA), gamma linolenic acid (GLA, an omega-6 fatty acid derivative), niacin, riboflavin (B2), thiamin (B1), beta carotene (A), magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, sodium, selenium, and silicon. The seeds are also edible. The plant can be dried for storage. Chickweed is a fairly safe food, however, as almost everything is somehow toxic if you use enough of it, over-consumption of this plant may give you diarrhea.

BIOLOGY: Common chickweed flowers and sets seed all through the year. It has been known to flower and ripen seed under a snow-cover 10-20 cm deep. Flowers are normally self-pollinated but there is a short period when insects can effect cross-pollination. In winter, flowers are produced that do not open making self-pollination inevitable. Stems cut off in flower do not produce viable seed but any green immature capsules present will ripen and the seeds within them can become capable of germination. Individual seed capsules contain around 10 seeds and the average seed number per plant is 2,200 to 2,700. However, plants with 25,000 seeds have been recorded. There is a good correlation between seed number and plant dry weight. Common chickweed can complete its life cycle in 5-6 weeks.

Seeds will germinate at any time of year but particularly in spring and autumn. Germination can occur between 2°C and 30°C but the optimum temperature is 15°C. Seed collected from separate plant populations may differ in size and germination characteristics. Some seeds can germinate immediately after shedding. Buried seeds develop a light requirement for germination. In the field, seedling emergence declines with increasing depth of seed burial. Most seedlings emerge from the surface 30 mm of soil. Seedlings from seeds buried deeper in the soil take longer to emerge. Chickweed is able to grow at relatively low temperatures and seedlings can survive all but the severest frosts.

PERSISTENCE AND SEEDS : Buried seeds are known to retain viability for at least 25 and probably over 40 years. Seed buried in soil for 10 years gave up to 22% germination. Seeds in dry storage for 30 months at low temperatures retained full viability. Common chickweed seeds broadcast onto the surface of clay and silty-loam soils, ploughed to 20 cm or flexible tine cultivated to 10-15 cm and followed over a 6 year period of cropping with winter or spring wheat declined at an annual rate of 35%. The estimated time to 95% decline was 7-8 years depending on the frequency of cultivation. In a series of autumn-sown crops the time to 99% decline of seed in the soil seedbank was 11.1 years. The mean annual decline rate was 30%. In other studies in cultivated soil the annual percent decline was 41%. Elsewhere, under a grass sward, common chickweed seed had a mean annual decline rate of 26%.

The seed capsule splits when mature and the seeds are shaken out onto the soil beneath the parent plant. The seed is dispersed further in mud on footwear and tyres. Ants also carry seeds away. Common chickweed seed was a common contaminant in cereal, grass, clover and other crop seeds. It remains a problem in home-saved cereal seed.

Chaffinches eat common chickweed seeds readily. A small number of seeds survive passage through the digestive system of small birds and germinate in their droppings. Seeds are also found in cattle, deer, horse and pig droppings and in worm cast soil. Apparently-viable seeds have been found in cattle manure. Ants can also transport seed. Seed has been recovered from irrigation water. The seed can withstand submergence in seawater.
chickweed in cereal

MANAGEMENT: In cool wet conditions common chickweed forms a dense mat of spreading stems that may root at the nodes making it difficult to hoe or pull up. Hoed plants will root again in moist soil. Complete burial is the most effective treatment. In root crops, control is by repeated surface tillage in hot, dry weather. In cereals, increasing the sowing rate and reducing the row width help to suppress chickweed growth. Spring-tine harrowing in July is said to give good control of the weed. After cereal harvest, stubble cultivations give good control of freshly shed seed. The soil should be worked to a depth of 5 cm at 14-day intervals. Common chickweed often emerges in winter when ploughing will destroy it.

Mowing is not effective with this procumbent plant and may help the weed by removing the shading effect of taller species. On newly sown leys grazing by sheep may to help to suppress common chickweed. It is grazed by many wild and domestic animals. Geese are said to eat common chickweed selectively in certain crops.

A layer of compost or cover crop residue spread over the soil will reduce common chickweed emergence. Leachate from composted household waste inhibits seed germination. There are indications that shallowly incorporating chopped straw after cereal harvest reduces seedling emergence. This may be due to the release of toxins as the straw decomposes. Seedling numbers increase, however, following applications of organic manure.

Seed numbers in soil were reduced by 85% following a 1 year fallow and by almost 90% if this was extended to 2 years. The land was ploughed, disked and harrowed during each fallow each year. Weed numbers were reduced but to a lesser extent by cropping with winter wheat for the same period and carrying out normal control measures. Fallowing at 5-year intervals over a 15-year period did not reduce seed numbers in soil further because during the intervening cropped years the weed was able to ripen seed during cropping, after harvest and before ploughing took place. Seed that remained dormant in the soil during the fallow period allowed the weed to survive through to the next crop year and increase again. Even a 4-year fallow did not eliminate all the common chickweed seeds in the soil.

Common chickweed seedlings with 2-6 leaves are relatively susceptible to flame weeding and the seeds are killed by soil solarization. Seedlings are very sensitive to UV-B radiation.

The seeds of common chickweed are consumed by several species of ground beetle. The fungus Peronospora media may be an important agent in the natural control of common chickweed.


SOURCES:
(1) http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicweeds/weed_information/weed.php?id=16

(2) http://www.kingdomplantae.net/chickweed.php

(3) http://www.arkive.org/common-chickweed/stellaria-media/

Euphorbia thymifolia Burm. f. (chhoti duddhi)

Euphorbia thymifolia Burm. f.

CHHOTI DUDDHI : A rare and neglected wild medicinal herb !!

COMMON NAME: chhoti duddhi, Shwet kerui, Dudhiya, Swetkan, Chothadudhi, Duddhi, Nigachun, Makikitot

BOTANICAL NAME: Euphorbia thymifolia Burm. f.

FAMILY: Euphorbiaceae

DESCRIPTION: Chhoti Duddhi, as the name indicates is a small plant containing milky latex in it. I know it from my childhood because some of my caring elders used to apply a paste of this plant whenever anyone of us got wounded while chasing and running behind one another during our routine games and sports in the village. As time passed, I grew older and older but could not forget this small plant peculiar in appearance but inhabiting in such ways that it can easily escape out of your notice if you are not a keen observer. Whenever and where ever I went and walked, in a not so happy mood, not in a hurry to rush for reaching to my destination, looking on the earth passing through my left or right sides, I located this humble plant with all its small expansion, sleeping on the surface without any ambition of life, never looking up towards the egoistic world, never wretched to feel about its smallness, rather shy enough in showing its existence, living under tough conditions offering refuge to lots of dust particles and bits of light weights. My writing about the humble plant is just a tribute to it as it occupies its place in my mind like anything else for the whole of my life, not like a thing of some use to me but like someone of the God’s creation occupying a place in the field of love of my mind I just cannot explain about.

Chhoti Duddhi in Ayurveda is called as Laghu Dugdhikaa. In Sidha it is called as Ammanpthrishi. It is taxonomically known as Euphorbia thymifolia Linn. , belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae. It has different names in different regions like – Dudia and Shweetkerua in Bengal, Cgittirapalavi in Ceylon; Nahani dudheli in Gujrat; Ghakdidudhi and Chothadudhi in Maharashtra; Chickenweed, dwarf spruce, and red caustic creeper in English. In Sanskrit it is known as Lakhu dugdhi, Dugdhika, and Raktabinducchada. In Spenish it is called as Golondrina and in Unani it is called as Dudhi khurda.

HABITAT : Euphorbia thymifolia is an annual herb with pan-tropic distribution. This is mainly found in waste lands, along roadsides and wall sides under humid conditions.

STEM: Its stem is slender, smooth, and reddish in colour and profusely branched. The stem is 10 to 20 cm in length with a diameter from 1 to 3 mm.

ROOTS: Delicate adventitious roots come out from nodes. Roots are fibrous, thin and delicate.

LEAF: Leaves are opposite, elliptic, oblong or ovate, 4 to 8 mm long and 2 to 5 mm wide with rounded apex, oblique base, inequillateral, margins serulate, stipules lanceolate or linear, and 1 to 1.5 mm long, deciduous.

FLOWER: Flowering occurs from June to November. Inflorescence is solitary or severely clustered at axils of leaves; peduncles are 1 to 2 mm in length and sparsely pilos. Involucres are slightly exceeding, and ovaries have short stipes. Involucres axillary, solitary or 2-3 in an axil, campanulate, 0.8 mm long. Capsule minute, hairy.

FRUIT: Fruits are cocci when mature

SEEDS: seeds are long, ovoid and tetragonal.

CONSTITUENTS: Contains quercetin, a crystalline alkaloidal principle and Studies revealed phenolics, tannins, flavonoids, steroids.

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES:
(1) According to Charak the soup of Dugdhika is beneficial in diarrhea and painful bleeding of piles. He has prescribed its latex for ring worm and for eruptive boils. In the traditional medicinal practice of konkan people also, the extract of this plant is applied for the cure of ringworms.
(2) Bhaavaprakash states that Dugdhika is expectorant as it can cure aggravated cough. Besides this a paste of the plant cures skin diseases and parasitic infections. If used internally, its extract promotes conception. It is aphrodisiac and possesses age sustaining properties.
(3) In Tamil traditional Medicinal practices the leaves and seeds of this plant are given in cases of worms and certain bowel affections of children.
(4) In North- Indian traditional practice the extract of plant is considered to be stimulant and laxative.
(5) The Santal tribals of Jharkhand and other regions use the extract of its roots as remedy for treating amenorrhoea (the absence of a period in a woman of reproductive age).
(6) The extract or the powder of this plant mixed in alcohol is used as a remedy for snakebites.
(7) It has been reported that the extract of Euphorbia thymifolia is antiviral and anti oxidant. It has also been reported to act as diuretic, laxative, detumiscent, anti-diarrheic, anti-malarial, anti-rash, anti-dysentery, anti-carbuncle, detoxificant, and anti-hemorrhoidal.
 (8)

It has been reported that the extract of this plant when combined with 1.5% HCl can inhibit the growth of both the Gram positive (Bacillus subtilis) and Gram negative bacteria (E.coli).

(9) It has also been reported that the aqueous extract of E. thymifolia possessive laxative properties.

USEFUL INFORMATION: The fresh plant is considered vulnerary and galactagogue; used in ophthalmia and other eye troubles, ardor, sores, atrophy, dysentery and Brest pain. It is an effective drug for bronchial asthma. Juice of the plant is used for ringworm, diarrhoea and dysentery; mixed with fresh goat milk is given to cure blood dysentery. Leaves and seeds are astringent, stimulant, anthelmintic and laxative; given to children in bowel complaints. Root is used in amenorrhoea (Yusuf et al. 2009).

SOURCES:
(1)http://sphinxsai.com/PTVOL3/PT=44,SANDEEP%20KANE%20(666-669).pdf
(2) http://www.stuartxchange.com/Makikitot.html

(3)http://www.globinmed.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83442%3Aeuphorbia-thymifolia&Itemid=150

(4) http://www.mpbd.info/plants/euphorbia-thymifolia.php

(5) http://www.ecosensorium.org/2009/08/chhoti-duddhi-euphorbia-thymifolia-linn.html

Ipomoea aquatica (Water Morning Glory)

 Ipomoea aquatica

WATER SPINACH is listed as a “NOXIOUS WEED”.


COMMON NAME: Water Morning Glory, Swamp cabbage, aquatic morning glory, Chinese water spinach, River spinach
BOTANICAL NAME: Ipomoea aquatica
FAMILY: Convolvulaceae ((Morning glory family)

DESCRIPTION:
Water Morning Glory is a semi-aquatic tropical plant grown as a leaf vegetable. Its precise natural distribution is unknown due to extensive cultivation, with the species found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Water Morning Glory grows in water or on moist soil.

LEAF: The leaves vary from typically sagittate (arrow head-shaped) to lanceolate, 5–15 centimetres (2–6 in) long and 2–8 centimetres (0.8–3 in) broad.

STEM:- Its stems are 2-3 m or more long, hollow, allowing them to float, and these root at the nodes. They are hollow and can float.

FLOWER: The flowers are trumpet-shaped, 3-5 cm diameter, usually white in colour, with a purple center. The flowers can form seed pods which can be used for planting.

USES OF PLANT:-
(1) Medicinal uses: Studies conducted with pregnant diabetes-induced rats have shown a blood sugar lowering effect of Ipomoea aquatica by inhibiting the intestinal absorption of glucose.

(2)Ipomoea aquatica is a semiaquatic, tropical plant grown as a leaf vegetable.The vegetable is a common ingredient in Southeast Asian dishes. In South India, the leaves are finely chopped and mixed with grated coconut to prepare thoran, a dish in Kerala. The same dish in Tamil Nadu is prepared as thuvaiyal or as kootu.

HAZARD:- The plant when eaten raw may transmit Fasciolopsis buski, an intestinal fluke parasite of humans and pigs, causing fasciolopsiasis.

INVASIVE SPECIES:- It has been introduced to the United States, where its quick growth rate has caused it to become an environmental problem, especially in Florida and Texas. It has been officially designated by the USDA as a "noxious weed". In Sri Lanka it invades wetlands. Its floating, long stems form dense mats which can block the flow of water and prevent passage.

SOURCES:
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomoea_aquatica
(2) http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b142
(3) http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Water%20Morning%20Glory.html