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.
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.
Leaves and stems are dried and used medicinally, both in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine.