The name is derived from the Greek, and refers to the medical doctrine of fluids in the body. Flowers, four pairs awl-shaped and like leaves in shape. Corolla glabrous on lower lip.
Fruit has four to eight flattened brownish seeds, which contain a quantity of strong mucilage.
The drug has no special odor or taste. Hydrophilia is composed chiefly of mucilage, fixed oil, phytosterol, and a trace of an alkaloidal substance, properties similar to Couchgrass. Hydrophilia is considered a demulcent, and a diuretic for catarrh of the urinary organs. It is also considered a popular aphrodisiac. In Southern India the root is the commercial part, but in Bombay the seeds are mostly used.