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