MPdb: Melghat Plant Data Bank
MH280 : Cyathula prostrata (L.) Blume |
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| Melghat's Flora's Serial No. : | - |
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| Plant Location in Melghat : | - | |||||||||||||
| Plant Category : | Herbs | |||||||||||||
| Plant's Current Status : | - | |||||||||||||
| Plant Family : | Amaranthaceae | |||||||||||||
| Plant Common Name : | Prostrate Pastureweed, cyathula • Hindi: lal chirchita • Kannada: nela uttharaani, raktapamarga • Konkani: dhakto mogra • Malayalam: cerukadalaadi • Marathi: bhuiaghaada • Tamil: civappu nayuruvi | |||||||||||||
| Synonym : | Achyranthes prostrata L. |
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| Description : | a perennial, slender herb, prostrate below and rooting at the nodes, branches ascending, 50-100cm long. Stem is dark purple or yellowish brown, branched, hairy. Leaf stalks are 0.5-1.5 cm long, hairy. Leaves are opposite, up to 2-6cm long, 1-3.5 cm wide, rhomboid-ovate to elliptic, velvet-hairy, pointed at tip, wedge-shaped at base. Spikes at branch-ends on the stem and branches; upto 30cm long. Flowers pale pink to violet, in clusters of 1-3 perfect flowers laterally subtended by imperfect flowers, upper flowers solitary. Perianth of perfect flowers calycine, scarious, 5-lobed, the lobes tapering or with awns; of imperfect flowers reduced to hooked rigid awns, segments upto 3mm long, elliptic-oblong, 3-nerved, apiculate, velvet-hairy. Hooked spines of imperfect flowers are reddish, fasciculate. Stamens 5, the filaments fused below in a hypogynous membranous cup, with intervening lacerate or 2-3 fid staminodes; anthers 2-celled. Ovary obovoid, 1-celled; ovule solitary, drooping from a long basal funicle; style simple, thread-like; stigma capitellate. Fruit an ovoid membranous utricle enclosed in the perianth , its tip aerolate. Seeds oblong, inverse; testa leathery; embryo annular; cotyledons linear flat; radical erect. | |||||||||||||
| Curated Medicinal Use / Activity : | A decoction of the aerial parts of the plant are drunk as a treatment for cough. An infusion of the whole plant is taken as a remedy for fever and dysentery. A decoction is used as a wash for relieving headache. The sap of the plant is used as ear drops to treat otitis and headache[310. The plant is pulped and applied as a poultice on sores, burns and fractures, where it acts as a haemostatic and cicatrizant. The ash of the burnt plant, mixed with water, is rubbed on the body as a remedy for scabies and other skin ailments. The roots are used as an abortifacient. A decoction of the roots is used as a remedy for dysentery, colds and cough, rheumatism and dropsy. The roots are used in the treatment of abnormal and frequent urination. The root is used as a plaster to treat caterpillar itch, around the neck for cough and on the belly for intestinal worms or shingles. The leaves, mashed with water, are a remedy for cholera. The stem and leaves are a mild laxative. The leaves are used to ease irritations of the throat. A decoction of the leaves is applied to snake bites. The juice from macerated leaves is applied to cuts and bruises as an anti-septic. Macerated leaves are applied to wounds to stop bleeding. The juice of the stem is used as an abortifacient. A decoction is taken as a diuretic and to increase menstrual discharge. The flowers as an expectorant. | |||||||||||||
| Plant's Phytochemicals : | Ethyl hexadecanoate 2,2-Paracyclophane Phytol Eicosene Pentatricontene |
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| Reference : | ~ Londhe AN, Watve AV and Ansari MY; "Additions to the flora of Melghat Tiger Reserve"; J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. (2002); 26(2): 385-395 PMID : |
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