The Leaf in the Ledger: How a Colonial Herbarium Specimen From Madagascar Became a Modern Skincare Staple in India

In the late 18th century, the East India Company’s Calcutta Botanic Garden became a node in a global network of botanical exchange. Among the plants that arrived by ship from Madagascar in 1794 was Centella asiatica, a creeping herb used in Malagasy healing traditions. By 1858, herbarium records at Kew show the species had been collected in India, where it was already woven into Ayurvedic pharmacopoeias. Today, the same plant now harvested in Madagascar’s wetlands finds its way into skincare formulations, its journey preserved in the ledgers of colonial science and contemporary supply chains.

The first documented shipment of Centella asiatica from Madagascar to India coincides with a period of intensified botanical transfer across the Indian Ocean. As noted in The Establishment of Calcutta Botanic Garden: Plant Transfer, Science and the East India Company, 1786–1806, the East India Company actively cultivated and distributed medicinal plants between colonies, often repurposing local knowledge for imperial science. These transfers were not merely about movement—they were acts of translation, converting oral and regional practices into the language of taxonomy and chemistry.

By the 20th century, comparative studies had begun to quantify differences between Malagasy and Indian Centella asiatica. A 1997 study published in Acta Botanica Gallica found that Malagasy specimens contained higher concentrations of asiaticoside than those from India, suggesting that geography shapes not just where the plant grows, but what it carries within it. The paper—Étude comparative de Centella asiatica d'origine malgache et d'origine indienne—analyzed HPLC data from Madagascar-supplied material (via the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research) and Indian sources, revealing measurable biochemical distinctions rooted in origin.

The genetic underpinnings of these variations were later explored in Insight into the biology, genetics and evolution of the Centella asiatica polyploid complex in Madagascar, published in ScienceDirect. The research highlights Madagascar’s role as a biodiversity hotspot, where polyploid populations of Centella asiatica have evolved distinct biochemical profiles. These differences are not accidental—they are the result of centuries of environmental adaptation and historical trade.

Today, the legacy of that trade is visible in Dr Rumika’s skincare formulations. The SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Ampoule 55ml and SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Ampoule Foam 125ml rely on extracts from this same lineage of Malagasy Centella, now cultivated and processed far from the rice fields and riverbanks where it once grew wild. The plant’s journey—from Malagasy wetlands to colonial herbariums, from Indian pharmacopeias to modern laboratories—is preserved not just in ledgers, but in the molecular fingerprint of every drop of serum.

The story of Centella asiatica is one of displacement, translation, and persistence. It is a reminder that the plants we use today carry the weight of earlier systems of knowledge and exchange. When you hold a bottle of Centella-infused serum, you are not just applying a modern beauty ingredient—you are touching a fragment of a much older story.