Indian Heliotrope - Heliotropium indicum

Common Name :	Indian Heliotrope, Indian turnsole.
Botanical Name :	Heliotropium indicum
Family :	Boraginaceae
Bengali Name :	Hatishur.
Photo Taken :	Bangladesh

This plant is known as Indian Heliotrope commonly. In Bangladesh this is known as Hatishur (means the proboscis/trunk of an elephant). This plant is from the family Boraginaceae and botanical name of the plant is Heliotropium indicum. In other places of the world this plant is known as Indian turnsole, Buntut tikus, Tournesol indien, etc. This plant is native to our Asia.





Indian Heliotrope (Heliotropium indicum) is an annual herb, predominantly grows in wetland or at the proximity of the wetlands. The stem of the plant is too hairy, and the leafs of the plant have a pungent smell. Indian Heliotrope uses to produce flowers throughout the whole year. This erect herb can grow up to 50cm in height sometimes.





Indian Heliotrope (Heliotropium indicum) uses to produce a long axis from the pinnacle of the stem and the small white to bluish flowers uses to bloom at only one side (outer) of the axis. Each small white flower from the inflorescence is tubular and widely spread. If you look the flower from my article the you'd find that the light yellow spot is available at the middle of the flower.





This unwanted weed has a lot of medicinal uses around the world. People use the extract from the leafs of the plant to heal the wounds and to cure some skin diseases. At Malaysia people use the juice of this plant as an eye drop for conjunctivitis. Also this plant has some use for urine related problems. In fact the the whole plant has at least some medical uses. But it would be wise to take expert's help before using it by yourself.





Photos of Indian Heliotrope (Heliotropium indicum) were taken from the following location of Bangladesh. In Bangla this plant is known as Hatishur (হাতিশুড়) and the flower is known as Hatishur ful (হাতিশুড় ফুল ).
1. July 2011: Rangamati.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icflora.blogspot.com/