Bathua

Sticky Chickweed  or Bathua is a cosmopolitan weed found in some hill-stations in North India, which probably came from Eurasia. It is an annual herb 10-35 cm tall and it’s stem are simple or branched, erect to rising. Moreover stems are hairy, often on one side.
Leaves are 1-2 cm long, 3-7 mm broad, obovate-elliptic to lanceshaped-elliptic, sparsely or densely hairy, with a pointed to blunt tip and stalkless base. Bracts are herbacious.

The leaves and young shoots are eaten raw or cooked as a leaf vegetable. Besides the flower buds and flowers can also be eaten cooked and each plant produces tens of thousands of black seeds. Quinoa, a closely related species, is grown specifically for its seeds. Moreover the Zuni people cook the young plants’ greens.

Moreover the plant is called bathua and is found abundantly in India in the winter season. Besides the leaves and young shoots of this plant are used in dishes such as soups, curries, and paratha-stuffed breads, common in North India. In addition the seeds or grains are used in phambra, gruel-type dishes in Himachal Pradesh, and in mildly alcoholic fermented beverages such as soora and ghanti. The “bathue ka raita” i.e. the raita (yogurt dip) made with bathua, is commonly eaten in winters in Haryana.

Common name: Chickweed
Color: white
Bloom time: April-July.
Height: 5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
Difficulty level: easy to grow

Planting & Care of Bathua

Tiny flowers are borne in cymes at branch ends or in leaf axils, often loose on long slender stalks and with slender branches. Sepals are narrowly lanceshaped, green with white margin. Moreover petals are white, about 3 mm, very deeply divided into two. Tropical Chickweed is native to Africa, America, naturalise India.

Sunlight

• Full Sun

Soil

• Well-drained soil

Water

• Medium

Temprature for Bathua

• 47 °C.

Fertilizer

• Apply any organic fertilizer

Care

• Tropical Chickweed is a prostrate herb with dichotomous branching.
• Leaves are very broadly ovate, almost round, with heart-shaped base, carried on stalks up to 1 cm.
• Leaves are hairless, 1-3.
• 5 x 0.
• 6-3 cm, 3-7-nerved at base.
• Besides avoid wearing your Desis when it is pouring outside.
• Keep them out in the sun to dry  and if they get wet and they will be just fine.
• Moreover make sure you keep them away from moisture; safe in the jute bag with the small silica pouch that comes along with your Desis, when not in use.

Bathua Special Feature

• Sparsely or densely hairy, with a pointed to blunt tip and stalkless base moreover bracts are herbacious and flower stalk is densely glandular-hairy, shorter or as long as the sepal-cup.
• Furthermore flowers are borne in roundish heads at the end of branches.

Uses

Medicinal use:

• The pounded leaf is applied to snake bites in China.
• Besides the plant is appetizer, depurative, emollient, febrifuge, laxative and stimulant.
• In addition he juice of the plant is used.
• Tropical Chickweed is widely used in traditional African medicine for the treatment of diverse ailments including painful and febrile conditions.

Note: For medicinal use, please consult appropriate doctor before use.

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