Trapa natans var. bispinosa (Roxb.) Makino
| Synonym : | Trapa bspinosa Roxb. T. natans L. |
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| Bangla Name : | Paniphal, Singara, Singra kata. |
| English Name : | Water Chestnut, Caltrops, Singhara Nuts |
| Family : | Trapaceae |
| Disease : | Diarrhoea,bilious affections,weakness,leucorrhoea. |
| Description : | An aquatic herb, with flexuose stem, ascending in the water, the submerged parts furnished with numerous opposite pairs of green root-like spreading pectinate organs. Leaves alternate, crowded on the upper part of the stem, the blade as broad as or broader than long, 3.8-5 cm long, rhomboid, somewhat truncate at the base, irregularly inciso-serrate, reddish-purple beneath, petiole dilated near the apex. Flowers few, axillary, solitary, pure white. Fruit obovoid, angular, 2.2-5 cm long and broad, with a spreading flattened very sharp spinous horn at either side. |
| Distribution : | Dhaka, Mymensingh, Rajshahi and other districts, in ponds and ditches. |
| Chemical Constituents : | Fruits contain proteins, fats, starch, sugars and manganese. Leaves contain tannins. Stems and roots have high concentration of Mn, Fe, Cu and Cr. The plant also contains nitrogenous substances (Ghani, 2003). |
| Uses : | Fruits are nutritive, tonic and cooling, useful in diarrhoea and bilious affections, along with milk given in nervous and general debility, seminal weakness and leucorrhoea. |
| Habit : | Herb |