Brahmi/Bacopa/Memory Herb (Bacopa monnieri) and Gotu Kola/Mandukaparni/Arthritis Herb (Centella asiatica) in 200 mm Green Hanging Basket

Brahmi/Bacopa/Memory Herb (Bacopa monnieri)

Family: Plantaginaceae (includes plantains, snapdragon, foxflove)
Genus: Bacopa (includes disk water hyssop, Gila River water hyssop)

Botanical/Binomial Name: Bacopa monnieri
Common Names: Brahmi (southern Indian name), Indian Pennywort, Bacopa, Water Hyssop, Memory Herb

Botanical Characteristics: Herbaceous | Creeping Perennial | Evergreen | Frost tender
Propagation: Seed | Cuttings | Layering | Root division

Gotu Kola/Mandukaparni/Arthritis Herb (Centella asiatica)

Family: Apiaceae (includes carrot, celery, parlsey)
Genus: Centella (includes swamp pennywort, erect centella)

Botanical/Binomial Name: Centella asiatica
Common Names: Brahmi (northern Indian name), Indian Pennywort, Gotu Kola (Sinhalese name), Mandukaparni (Hindi and Sanskrit name), Asiatic Pennywort, Arthritis Herb

Botanical Characteristics: Herbaceous | Creeping Perennial | Evergreen | Frost tender
Propagation: Seed | Layering | Separation of self-rooted runners | Division of rhizomes

Always do your own due diligence and seek medical expertise if considering plants for medicinal purposes.

Item Description:
PICK-UP ONLY
Both ‘brahmi’ and ‘Indian pennywort’ can refer to either of these two species. As this can be confusing, the following descriptions use ‘bacopa/memory herb’ for Bacopa monnieri and ‘gotu kola/arthritis herb’ for Centella asiatica.

This is the exact item in the photos. Both species are established and will soon match the advanced state of the brahmi/bacopa/memory herb in this listing. The gotu kola/arthritis herb is currently less advanced in its growth than the bacopa/memory herb.

Dimensions of this green hanging basket are 200 mm diameter by 125 mm without hanger, 365 mm with hanger. The clasp hanger is removeable, allowing you the option of hanging or placing on a stand to cascade.

This is a saucerless pot, well-suited for moisture-loving plants such as these, as water is retained at the bottom of the pot around a drainage well. This reduces watering requirements by reducing drying out whilst also retaining a reservoir for roots to tap into. Excess water above the reservoir simply drains out the hole.

Plant Description:
Bacopa/memory herb is a highly-prized Ayurvedic medicinal herb traditionally used for memory, concentration and cognition. It is drunk as a tea or eaten as a salad/vegetable leaf, but do be aware that it has a bitter taste so you may wish to add a sweetener.

Bacopa is equally at home in the ground as it is floating in water. Its low-lying, creeping nature makes an attractive groundcover or aquatic plant, but it will readily outgrow these environments if not managed. Take advantage of its ornamental nature instead, by containing it via a hanging basket or in a pot to cascade over a surface, especially if you are not able to keep on top of it otherwise.

Small white flowers dot the plant through winter and spring and add to its good looks.

Gotu kola/arthritis herb is another highly-prized Ayurvedic medicinal herb traditionally used for memory, concentration and cognition. It is further used to alleviate the pain of arthritis and rheumatism — just two large leaves daily has been enough for many people to see results.

The leaves are bitter, but nowhere near as bitter as bacopa. It is a popular salad leaf throughout Asia.

This species also makes an attractive groundcover on account of its low-lying creeping nature, and in fact bears a passing resemblance to the popular groundcover known as Australian kidney weed/Dichondra (Dichondra repens). But please be aware that these are two very different plants and Dichondra repens has no culinary or medicinal qualities. Please see this blog post on how to identify the two.

Growing Information:
Both species are easy-care, requiring not much more than reliably moist-to-wet conditions and occasional fertilising. Both will grow in part to full sun, and in any soil type so long as it is constantly moist. Gotu kola will produce longer petioles topped with larger leaves the size of a fifty-cent piece when in shade.

Both like damp soil, but bacopa will happily also grow in water, where it will form a floating mat of foliage. Both species respond to occasional fertilising, and a slow-release type more than meets their needs. Do not fertilise bacopa in water however, as this will encourage algal growth.

Both species readily root on contact with the ground, and sections can be cut away and uprooted for transplanting elsewhere. Alternatively lay a trailing piece over a pot until it has taken root, then cut this ‘bridge’ between the daughter and mother plant for a new plant to relocate elsewhere.