Friday 10 November 2017

Panfuti (Bryophyllum pinnatum) - Sikkim Flora



Scientific classification

Kingdom:       Plantae
Order              Saxifragales
Family:           Crassulaceae
Genus:            Bryophyllum
Species:           Bryophyllum pinnatum

Binomial name: Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.) Oken

Other Names:  Air Plant, Life Plant, Cathedral Bells, Goethe Plant, Patharkuchi (Bengali), Panfuti (Maharastra)

Special feature: Bryophyllum pinnatum is a succulent plant native to Madagascar, which is a popular houseplant and has become naturalized in tropical and subtropical areas.

The writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - who also was an amateur naturalist of some repute - was "passionately fond" of this plant and liked to give the baby plantlets as gifts to friends who visited his home. He also discussed his air plant at length in an essay titled Geschichte meiner botanischen Studien ("History of my botanical studies").

Bryophyllum pinnatum has been found to contain bufadienolide cardiac glycosides. These can cause cardiac poisoning, particularly in grazing animals.

Bryophyllum pinnatum has been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago as being used as a traditional treatment for hypertension. The juice made of Bryophylum is useful for cure of kidneystones, although there is no evidence-based clinical indication for these uses in modern medicine and, indeed, such usage could prove dangerous and even fatal in some cases. (Wikipedia)

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