The herb grows on sandy soil near rivers and streams in shady places in lowland and intermediate altitude forests.

[1] T. zeylanicus grows in Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Southwestern Ghats mountains of South India.

Modern Indian scientists learned the medical properties of Trichopus zeylanicus in December 1987 while on a scientific expedition to the Agasthia Hills in the Western Ghats.

Detailed chemical and pharmacological investigations showed that the leaf of the plant contained flavonoid glycosides, glycolipids and some other non-steroidal compounds.

[2] In the article published in www.ijpcbs.com showed the antibacterial and antifungal activities of the leaf extract against 8 bacterial and 8 fungal strains (Manza and Saj, 2013) The Indian commercial and scientific interest in the herb caused misguided suspicions of bio-piracy in Sri Lanka, where it is called Bimpol, and exports of the herb were forbidden in 1998.