Medicinal Herbs

Chanca Piedra Extract

Phyllanthus urinaria

Chanca piedra (Phyllanthus urinaria) is an annual herb of the spurge family, about 30cm tall, its smooth upright stem often flushed red. The small oblong leaves, 5-15mm long and blue-green beneath, are set in two ranks along the branchlets so that each branch reads as a single feathered leaf. Tiny brownish-red flowers open in the leaf axils, and the round fruits, barely 2mm across, hang in a row underneath, the picture behind the Vietnamese name diệp hạ châu, pearl beneath the leaf. It grows wild everywhere in Vietnam and across the tropics. The whole plant is pulled, year round but best in summer, and used fresh or dried.