Family : Cyperaceae

English   : Nut Grass

Hindi   : Nagarmotha, Motha

Gujarati : Moth

Sanskrit : Musta, Mustaka

Part used : Rhizome

Botanical Description:  A perennial glabrous herb with elonagted slender stolons bearing hard black fragrant tubers and triquetrous aerial stems; leaves numerous, narrowly linear, finely acuminate, flat, one nerved; spikelets in compound expanded umbels, spikelets liner to lanceolate, glumes imbricate; nut trigonous, broadly obovoid, greyish black, flowering and fruiting from September to December.

It is found throughtout India as a weed in waste lands from sea level to 1800 m.

Modern Pharmacological Action: The wound healing property appears to be due to the presence of its active principles, which accelerates the healing process and confers breaking strength to the healed wound. The crude extract of Cyperus rotundus was used for anti-inflammatory activity.