Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Glinus oppositifolius

Edible: Leaves, Shoots, Vegetable, Flowers

An annual herb. This is a small thin spreading plant. It grows 10-60 cm tall. It is smooth skinned and branched and grows each year from seed. The leaves are opposite each other and 1 to 3 cm long. Sometimes the leaves are in circles. It flowers throughout the year. Flowers develop around the nodes. There are 4-6 flowers together. They are 6-12 mm long. They are greenish-white. They have a long flower stalk. The fruit is a capsule which is oval. It has 5 valves. There are many seeds. These are kidney shaped. They are 0.5 mm long.

It is a tropical plant. It grows in open waste places. It often grows on land which is occasionally flooded. It grows on tidal flats. It grows in damp shady places. It grows in wetlands. It grows between 40-780 m above sea levels.

Common Names: Bitter cumin, Bakkate, Chadarasi gida, Chandarasisoppu, Chang geng xing su cao, Chayun-tarashiaku, Dang khem, Dima shak, Gandhi buuti, Ganga, Ganga-la-acho, Geema shak, Gemashak, Ghima, Gima, Gimasak, Gimma, Grishma-sundaraka, Harha ara, Jala-papr, Jeem shaak, Jharasi, Jima, Jin-ga, Kachantarai, Kadubhaji, Kaipacheera, Kaipajira, Karvo okhrad, Kayata bhaji, Lonika, Pampantra, Parpata, Parpatka, Phak kaen khom, Phak khuang, Phanija, Pitangama, Pitasaga, Rau dang dat, Rumput tapak burung, Sadaodin, Teeta shak, Thura poondu, Toorael lay, Ushnasundara

Synonyms: 

Glinus cambessedesii Fenzl;
Glinus denticulatus (Guill.) & Perr.) Fenzl;
Glinus mollugo Fenzl.;
Glinus spergula (L.) Steud.;
Mollugo oppositifolia L.;
Mollugo spergula L.;
and others