Emilia sonchifolia (L.) DC.

English Name : Lilac Tassel-Flower

Family : Asteraceae

Origin : Eastern and southern Asia and western Pacific

Description

A slender, erect or diffuse annual herb up to 40 cm tall. Leaves very variable; the lower petiole, lyrate or obovate, toothed or entire; the upper more or less amplexicaul and auricled, usually acute. Flowers pink or purplish, borne in solitary or corymbose heads up to 1.3 cm long; peduncles very slender, nodding when young; involucre cylindrical; bracts almost equalling the corolla, linear-oblong, acute. Achenes 0.3 cm long, narrowly oblong, 5 ribbed, brown, scabrid on hte ribs, attached to a white, soft pappus.

Habitat
Fields and forests of India.

Parts Used : Leaf, plant and its aerial part

Herb Effects
Antimicrobial (aerial part)

Active Ingredients
Senkirkine, doronine, kwempferol 3-beta-D-galactoside, rutin, quercitrin, quercetin and ursolic acid (aerial part).

Medicinal Use

Problems with the bowel, to treat infantile tympanites, to relieve cuts and wounds, breast abcesses (plant); to relieve sore ears, headache, night blindness and eye inflammations (leaf); to treat diarrhoea, cataracts and redness of the eyes (root).

Contraindication
Not in pregnancy

Reference