Punarnava (Boerhavia diffusa) is a medicinal plant with wide distribution in the world, including India and throughout Asia, South America, North America, Africa, and the South Pacific. It has been documented in many traditional healing systems, such as Ayurveda and Unani, and many others, as evidenced by the wide range of common names it possesses (over 40). Its primary uses are gastrointestinal, hepatoprotective, diuretic and gynecological.
Punarnava has a low-growing vigorous habit that allows it to occupy disturbed areas, such as roadsides. Its small sticky fruits it have made it successful at distributing itself over large areas, to the point that it has been incorporated into many traditional healing systems and there is confusion on the original native range.
In Ayurveda, it is known as a tridoshic herb, which can pacify each of the doshas, as well as a rasayana, an herb with rejuvenative properties. It is used in more than 35 formulations in Ayurveda as a major ingredient.
It is also abundant and part of the traditional medicine tradition in Brazil, where it is known as Erva Tostão. Among the key uses in Brazilian traditional medicine are immunomodulatory and hepatoprotective, in other words, rejuvenative properties.
Besides its uses in herbal medicine for rejuvenation, Punarnava also gets its common name from its botanical characteristics, as it can endure an intense hot season by dying back and then rejuvenating itself come the rainy season. It is a member of the “4-oclock family” (Nyctaginaceae), a family that is typified by many unusual characteristics.
Both the roots and leaves are consumed as culinary ingredients in various parts of the world. The roots are thick and fleshy, and consumed by Aboriginal Australians. The leaves are cooked and added to soups or used as vegetables in India and elsewhere, and the seeds are sometimes cooked and added to cereals.
The aerial portions of the plant are known to contain 15 amino acids, including 6 essential, and the root contains 14 amino acids, including 7 essential. Punarnava is also known to contain significant quantities of potassium nitrate, as well as punarnavine, a range of rotenoids and other bioactive compounds, such as ursolic acid and beta sitosterol.
Through scientific investigation, Punarnava is known to exhibit a number of different activities, including immunomodulatory, hepatoprotective, blood sugar balancing, antioxidant, antiestrogenic, and cytokine balance.
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Photo by Vinayaraj