Gotu Kola

This weed is really interesting to me :

binomial name: CENTELLA ASIATICA
common names :Gotu Kola and Pennywort

Gotu is Sri Lankan meaning cylinder and Kola means leaf


Identification:

Centella means "little coin' indicating what you need to look for
It is a perennial creeping ground cover with coin shaped leaves about 2-4cm diameter with a v shaped slot. The leaf margins are finely serrated. The leaves are larger and petioles are longer if it is growing in shade . Petioles at my place are up to 20cm long. There are no flowers visible - they hide at the base of the petioles.
Try not to confuse with Kidney weed (Dicondra ripens) and native voilet (Viola hederacea).

History and uses:

Traditionally -Chinese,Indian and Asian- it has been used for a multitude of medical ailments including: healing of wounds and ulcers , to improve brain function, to treat infections, to reduce lower limb oedema (swelling) and as an anti-arthritic agent. Indian ayurvedic medicine used it to lower blood pressure and indeed being related to celery it does do this to some extent.
It was listed in a ancient traditional Chinese Herbal book 2,000 years ago, as well as being used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine some 3,000 years ago.

Gotu Kola is a minor feature in the longevity myth of a Chinese man called Li Ching-Yun. He purportedly lived to be 256, supposedly due in part to his usage of traditional Chinese herbs including Gotu Kola, and there is a popular folklore tale from Sri Lanka which speaks of a prominent king from the 10th century AD named Aruna Withane who claimed that Gotu Kola provided him with energy and stamina to cope with his 50-woman harem.

In Asian cooking its used, for example, as a leafy green in Sri Lankan cooking. As the dish called “mallung” it is a traditional accompaniment with rice and curry. It’s also served with vegetarian dishes such as parippu.
Similarly in Asian cuisine it is used as an ingredient in a beverage.


Nutritional:

GK contains Vitamins A (carotenoids) Vit B Vit C and Vit E It has amino acids including aspartate and glutamate - I was unable to locate any studies recording actual amounts/100gm.
There are also various minerals and some alkaloids
However 4 glycosides of real interest - they are :
Asiaticoside - improves healing and is an antibiotic.
Brahmoside and Brahminoside - mild tranquilisers and anti-anxiety chemicals.
Madacassoside - a potent anti-inflammatory agent.

It is real chemical soup - pretty amazing for such a small plant! Those 2 amino acids (aspartate and glutamate) are neurotransmitters involved in chronic pain in humans - fascinating that they are mentioned in this weed which has been used traditionally for painful conditions.


What to eat :

Pick 2-4 leaves/person - dice into small pieces and use in a salad or add to other leafy vegetables whilst boiling . Dice and add to cereal mix.
Homogenise into a drink or crush to make a tea maybe - not sure how that would taste though.


Medical Studies from pubmed:

Pubmed had over 230 citations for Gotu Kola – here are some of the more interesting ones:
1. In an in vitro (test tube) arthritis experiment using bovine cartilage, the Madacassocide part inhibited cartilage breakdown.
2.Using rats with arthritis caused by the injection with foreign collagen, the same ingredient (Madecassoside) significantly suppressed arthritis and tissue pathology with reduced levels of several inflammatory markers in the blood and joint tissues.
3. In 28 elderly patients given Gotu Kola extract for 6 months, there was an improvement in cognitive function and mood . Another study found GK extract had an anxiolytic effect in mice and also reduced the plaques associated with alzheimers disease.
4.Finally a warning : there is a report of 3 womens developing jaudice and hepatitis from taking Gotu Kola after only relatively short periods- they recovered ok after a hospital stay and ceasing to take GK – one woman tried it again and redeveloped jaudice/liver damage. I suspect some other factors where at play here as some people do seem to get liver problems from drugs whereas most others have no problem.


Conclusion:

Taste is a bit bitter, but easily masked amongst other foods.
What an interesting edible weed– it may be worth a try for chronic arthritis – try 2-4 leaves/day.
I would suggest not eating it every day in view of the reports of liver problems.

Tom