Bacopa monnieri

Small Fettblatt

The Small Bacopa ( Bacopa monnieri ), commonly found in the trade under the name Brahmi is a perennial plant of the genus Bacopa ( Bacopa ) in the family of the plantain family ( Plantaginaceae ).

Description

The Small Bacopa is a hairless, perennial herbaceous plant. The most glands loose stems of this swamp plant grows upright or mostly crawling. The constantly against arranged, sessile leaves are slightly succulent, simple, narrow obovate to spatulate. They are 10 to 20 mm long and 5-8 mm wide. The leaf margin is entire, the tip is rounded, the base is wedge-shaped. The surface is dotted with glandular, the leaf main vein is clearly visible, but the two to four secondary veins are indistinct. The petioles are undifferentiated pronounced and grow through clinging of the leaf blade.

The flowers appear singly in the leaf axils on slender stalks, which thicken to blossom out. By their fruits, the stems have a length of 1 to 2 cm. Below the bloom constantly against two sepal -like, narrow, sideways bracts. The hermaphrodite flower is 7-9 mm long. The five sepals overlap like roof tiles. The outer two sepals are the same multiform, broadly ovate triangular and 5 mm long and 2-3 mm wide and distinctly keeled. The three inner sepals are irregularly shaped, they can be both longer and shorter than the outer sepals. The four or five petals are fused Roehrig, 8 mm long and glabrous. The white, pale purple or blue petals are about 1/3 to 1/ 4 of the length from each other freely, so the resulting Kronlappen are somewhat unevenly shaped. The four among themselves free, fertile stamens have glabrous stamens that address irregular near the top of the corolla tube. The anthers are 1.5 mm long, are only slightly above the crown out, are black, linear or curved, and the theca are free and are only connected near the center. Two carpels are fused into a superior ovaries, the narrow elongated, about 4 mm long, turning round and is bent at the top to the bottom. The style ends in a flat and slightly bilobed scar.

And the fachspaltig scheidewandspaltig, dehiscent fruit capsule has a length of 4 to 4.5 mm and a width of about 3.5 mm. The seeds compartments separate to the base, the placenta is small, peg -like and pitted spotted, the septum is translucent, papery, it overlooks the placenta on each side by about 0.75 mm. The many seeds are about 0.5 mm long.

Occurrence

The Small Bacopa is one of the most widespread species of the genus Bacopa ( Bacopa ). It is often found in the mud at the edge of stagnant water, also tolerates brackish water and is often found in the sea.

Key Ingredients and Pharmacology

The little fat leaf contains a number of useful medical ingredients that are found mainly in the leaves of the plant. Among them include mainly various flavonoids (including luteolin and apigenin ), saponins ( Bacosid A and B), phytosterols and triterpenes. In addition, the plant contains some effective alkaloids, including brahmin which is chemically similar to that of strychnine.

In scientific studies, positive effects with regard to memory performance could be shown.

Swell

• Description in the Western Australian flora. (English )
• William D' Arcy: Flora of Panama. Family Scrophulariaceae 171. In: . Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Volume 66, Number 2, 1979, page 173-272.
• Stough, C. et al.: The chronic effects of an extract of Bacopa monnieri ( Brahmi ) on cognitive function in healthy human subjects In: Psychopharmacology, Vol 156, DOI: 10.1007/s002130100815