Gotu kola is native to Southeast Asia, India and Sri Lanka. It is generally grown as an annual in the U.S. except in USDA zone 11 where it is a perennial. Often it is dug up in the fall for harvest for medicinal use, with several rhizomes planted in containers and overwintered inside to maintain the plant.
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Gotu kola is a moisture loving, shade loving groundcover that will grow by creeping stolons and underground rhizomes. The leaves are considered very nutritious. Small pink flowers in the spring.
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Leaves and stems are dried and used medicinally, both in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine.