Iron weed

Scientific name of Ironweed: Vernonia cineria
Family : Asteraceae
Name of Ironweed in different languages:
English: bitter leaf, ash-colored fleabane, Ash coloured fleabane
Sanskrit: Sahadevi, shleshmataka, bahuvara, bhutvrikshak, shak, karbudarak, bhutdrum
Malayalam: Poovankurunthal-പൂവാങ്കുറുന്തൽ
Hindi: Sahadeyi
Bengali: Kuksim
Gujarat: Sadodi
Kannada: Sahadevi
Punjabi: Sahadevi.
Tamil: Puvamkuruntal
Telungu: Gharitikamani
Useful plant parts:
Root, leaves, flowers and seeds
Plant description:
Iron weed - Vernonia cineria is an an erect or some what decumbent annual herb, 12 - 75 cm in height with cylindric, striate, more or less pubescent branched stem. Leaves simple, alternate, variable in shape, ovate or lanceolate, shortly mucronate, irregularly toothed or shallowly crenate-serrate. Petioles variable, 6-13 mm long. Flowers many, pinkish- violet, in small heads, involucral bracts oblong, lanceolate, acuminate, awned, silky on the back. Fruits oblong achenes, 12.5 mm long, slightly narrowed at the base, clothed with appressed white hair
Medicinal uses:
Used against diarrhoea, stomachalgia, cough, inflammation, skin diseases, chronic intermittent fevers, humid herps, eczema, elephantiasis, ring worm, conjunctivitis, fever, round worms, thread worms, flatulence, psoriasis, chronic skin diseases, dysuria, good for cancerous malformat
Chemical content:
antimicrobial, vernolic acid
Medicinal Properties:
Astringent, anti-dermatic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, galactogogue, stomachic, diaphoretic, antirheumatic
Propagation:
Seeds