Medicinal Herbs

Andrographis Extract

Andrographis paniculata

Andrographis (Andrographis paniculata), xuyên tâm liên in Vietnamese, is a slender upright herb that lives a year or two, reaching half a metre to a metre, its square stem branching evenly on four sides. The leaves are opposite and narrowly oval; small white flowers dotted with pink stand in loose sprays at the leaf axils and shoot tips, and the slim capsules split as they dry, flicking out the seeds. It grows wild and is cultivated across Vietnam's lowland provinces, sown from seed in spring and cut eighty to ninety days later, before flowering. The leafy stems are used fresh or dried, and are fiercely bitter.