Tala
Limnophila rugosa
- Names in the book
- Tala, Taramhampam, Tag.; Talatala, Pam.; Taratara, Iloc.
- Used for
- Urinary
- Colours
- flowerviolet, bluethroatyellow
- Native range
- India through Southeast Asia to the Pacific
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Known universally. Blooms in June.
- Family
- Plantaginaceae, filed in the book under Scrophulariaceæ
- Printed as
- Limnophila menthastrum, Benth. (Tala odorata, Blanco.)
Blanco's Tala odorata, which the book files under Limnophila menthastrum, is now Limnophila rugosa.
The plant today
The native range of this species is Tropical & Subtropical Asia to SW. Pacific. It is an annual or subshrub and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.
From Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, CC BY 3.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 27 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 4 provinces: Sorsogon (2), Bulacan (1), Pangasinan (1), Antique (1).
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
An infusion of the leaves is given as a diuretic and digestive tonic. The plant is aromatic. It is seldom used, but is given for the same troubles and in the same doses as chamomile and Eupatorium Ayapana.
Botanical description
A plant 1° high, with leaves opposite, lanceolate, ovate, serrate, hairy, many small pits on the lower face. Flowers rose color, solitary, sessile. Calyx, 5 sharp teeth. Corolla tubular, curved, compressed, downy within, limb cleft in 4 unequal lobes. Stamens didynamous. Ovary conical. Style shorter than the stamens. Stigma 3-lobuled. Seed vessel, 2 multiovulate chambers.
Recent research
Europe PMC lists no papers since 2018 that name Limnophila rugosa.