Thank you so much Dr Phadke and Tanayji. I was not very sure of the prior identification . But now I am happy and have found so much info about this common weed but so useful
*Vernonia cinerea* *Botanical Name:* Vernonia cinerea *Sanskrit Name:* Sahadevi *English Name:* Purple Fleabane *Family:** *Asteraceae *Description of** **Vernonia cinerea: *The stem is slender, grooved and ribbed. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly elliptic or lanceolate, membranous or rather coriaceous. The flowers are pinkish and purple, in minute heads in rounded or flat-topped corymbs. The achenes are oblong, terete, & slightly narrowed at the base. *Principal Constituents: *Triterpenes are the major constituent of the herb. 24-hydroxytaraxer-14-ene was identified and the structure was elucidated. b-amyrin acetate, b-amyrin benzoate, lupeol and its acetate, b-sitosterol, sigmasterol and a-spinasterol were isolated *Toxicology *No adverse effect was reported on usage of this plant as a drug. *Medicinal Uses: *The juice of the plant is given to children with urinary incontinence. The leaves are eaten as a potherb. A decoction of it is also given in diarrhea, stomachache and for cough and colic. Vernonia cinerea. Synonym: Cyanthillium cinereum. Common names: Ash Fleabane, Small Ironweed. Common Hindi names: Sahadevi, Daudotpala. Plant: 15-75cm. Erect branching annual herb. One of the commonest plants, seen in every possible niche from roof tops by the sea up to the Himalaya(1,800m). Often variable in appearance. Leaves: 1-5cm (rarely to 7-8cm) long. ovate acute, or variably shaped. Flower: 4mm across. Presumably indigenous in southeastern Asia and Malesia, now adventive in most southern Pacific archipelagoes and elsewhere in the tropics, including Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and America. Leaves, roots and seeds are used in traditional medicine. The Vernonia cinerea - a widespread weed, in waste places and gardens. Grows not more than 1 metre tall, usually 0.5 meters. Purple flowering heads, called "cupid's shaving brush", sometimes pinkish, small 6 -7 mm. Leave your lawn unmowed for a month and the Vernonia cinerea will be the first to sprout to prominence . Used in traditional medicine in most cultures. In Tamil medicine, its juice is used mainly as a vehicle for other compositions, besides being a lone prescription. The ripe seeds, with 'feathers' waiting for a wind to blow them to your grass patch. Small Ironweed (Vernonia cinerea) Vernonia cinerea, sometimes called the "small ironweed", is an erect annual herb, 8-1.60 cm tall. Stem ribbed, sparingly branched, finely pubescent, glandular. Leaves alternate, lower leaves narrowed into petiole, very variable as to shape, obovate, oval, ovate, rhomboid-oval, narrowly oblong, lanceolate or linear, all leaves subentire or repandate-dentate, herbaceous, gland-dotted beneath, on both surfaces finely pubescent, 1-8½ cm (1/2-3 cm long petiole disregarded) by ½-3 ½ cm; uppermost ones minute. The inflorescence terminal, purple or violet sometimes pink, heads 20-25-flowered, 6-7 mm long, rather numerous, in corymbs, on filiform, 2-14 mm long peduncles; involucral bracts very acutely acuminate;; involucre 4-seriate, 4-5 mm long, bracts pubescent, often tinged with purple, narrowly pellucid-margined, lanceolate, 1-nerved, glandular. Achenes with 4-5 ribs, rather densely white-apressed-hairy, 1 ½-2 mm long; inner-pappus hairs 4-5 mm long; outer ones very short. Its seeds (achenes) are wind-dispersed. The small iron weed presumably originated from the Malesian region of Southeast Asia but is now a weed in Oceana, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and the Americas typically found naturalized in urban areas and relatively dry, disturbed sites, Regards Bhagyashri On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 7:50 PM, Tanay Bose <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes Satish Ji said the right *Vernonia cinerea* > A weed in India. > Tanay > > On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 6:56 AM, Satish Phadke <[email protected]>wrote: > >> To me it looks like *Vernonia cinerea* a very common roadside plant. >> Dr Phadke >> >> On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 12:49 PM, Madhuri Raut <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Request for identification >>> >>> >>> Date/Time-Sep 2011 >>> >>> >>> Location- Place, Altitude, GPS-Pune >>> >>> >>> Habitat- Garden/ Urban/ Wild/ Type-wild >>> >>> >>> Plant Habit- Tree/ Shrub/ Climber/ Herb- plant >>> >>> >>> Height/Length-1.5 ft >>> >>> >>> Leaves Type/ Shape/ Size-green >>> >>> >>> Flowers Size/ Colour/ Calyx/ Bracts- light purple buds white flowers >>> >>> >>> Fruits Type/ Shape/ Size Seeds- ?brown seeds >>> >>> >>> Other Information it looks like cotton I do not know how to describe this >>> correclly >>> >>> >>> Regards >>> >>> Bhagyashri >>> >>> >>> >> > > > -- > *Tanay Bose* > Research Assistant & Teaching Assistant. > Department of Botany. > University of British Columbia . > 3529-6270 University Blvd. > Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4 (Canada) > Phone: 778-323-4036 (Mobile) > 604-822-2019 (Lab) > 604-822-6089 (Fax) > [email protected] > *Webpages:* > http://www.botany.ubc.ca/people/mberbee.html > http://www.botany.ubc.ca/people/gradstud.html > https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/ > > >
