Friday, December 5, 2008

Echinops echinatus ROXB.

Family : Asteraceae

English Name : Camel's Thistle

Origin : Pantropics

Description

A rigid, pubescent, annual herb up to 1 m tall, with branches widely spreading from the base. Leaves alternate, sessile, oblong, pinnatifid, covered with cottony wool beneath, the lobes triangular and oblong, simuate and spiny, the spines often 2.5 cm long. Flower heads white or purple, compact, globose, clustered at the ends of branches; involucres surrounded by strong white bristles resembling pappus-hairs; pappus short, yellowish, forming a short cylindrical brush above the achene.

Habitat

Forests and fields of India.

Parts Used : Root and plant

Herb Effects

Aromatic, bitter, nervine tonic, alterative, diuretic, aphrodisiac and lowers blood sugar (root); increases nerve strength (plant).

Active Ingredients

Beta-amyrin, lupeol, hentriacontanol and hentriacontane (plant); betulinic acid (flower)

Medicinal Use

Cough suppressant,as a tonic for increasing nerve strength and in indigestion, premature ejaculation and scrofula (plant); in diabetes (root).

Reference


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