FoI
Asthma Weed
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Asthma Weed
aturalized Photo: Thingnam Girija
Common name: Asthma Weed, Dove milk, Common spurge, Cats hair • Hindi: बड़ा दुधी Bara dudhi • Manipuri: ꯄꯥꯈꯡ ꯂꯩꯇꯣꯟ Pakhang leiton, ꯄꯥꯈꯡꯕꯥ ꯃꯇꯣꯟ Pakhangba maton • Marathi: दुधी Dudhi • Tamil: Ammam Paccharisi • Malayalam: Nelapalai • Telugu: Nanabalu • Kannada: ಹಚ್ಚೆಗಿಡ Hachchedida, ಕೆಂಪುನೆನೆ ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಸೊಪ್ಪು Kempu nene akki soppu, ಅಚ್ಚೆಚ್ಚೆ Accheche • Bengali: Barokarni • Konkani: Dudurli • Tangkhul: Pakhang leiton • Nepali: आँख्ले झार Ankhle Jhaar, दुधे Dudhe, दुधे झार Dudhe Jhaar, दुधिया Dudhiyaa, रातो मासे लहरा Raato Maase Laharaa, रातो लहरे घाँस Raato Lahare Ghaans, चिम्फर झार Chimphar Jhaar, जोतने झार Jotane Jhaar • Assamese: গাখীৰতী বন Gakheerotee bon • Mizo: Zawhte-hlo
Botanical name: Euphorbia hirta    Family: Euphorbiaceae (Castor family)
Asthma Weed is a slender-stemmed, annual hairy plant with many branches, growing up to 40 cms tall, reddish or purplish in color. Leaves are opposite, elliptic-oblong to oblong-lancelike, 1-2.5 cm long, blotched with purple in the middle, toothed at the edge. Flowers, purplish to greenish in color, dense, axillary, short-stalked clusters or crowded cymes, about 1 mm in length. Capsules are broadly ovoid, hairy, three-angled, about 1.5 cm. Asthma Weed is native to the American continents, but widely naturalized in the Tropical world, including the Himalayas.
Medicinal uses: Asthma weed has traditionally been used in Asia to treat bronchitic asthma and laryngeal spasm, though in modern herbalism it is more used in the treatment of intestinal amoebic dysentery. It should not be used without expert guidance, however, since large doses cause gastro-intestinal irritation, nausea and vomiting.
Identification credit: Tabish Photographed in Delhi.
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