Gotu Kola

Heals wounds, improves circulation in the legs, relieves anxiety, promotes sleep

This creeping, marsh-loving plant isn't well known outside its native range of China, India and the South Pacific. In those regions, however, gotu kola has quite a reputation. In China, it's considered the herb of choice to promote longevity, in part because it was used regularly by the Chinese herbalist LiChing Yun, who, legend says, lived to celebrate his 256th birthday.

In India, gotu kola is known as the herb of enlightenment. "This plant is called bramhi, or 'greatest of the great,' " says Jay L. Glaser, M.D., medical director of the Maharishi Ayurvedic Health Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts. (Ayurvedic medicine is the traditional medicine of India.) "Gotu kola's most important use