Woolly Dicoma is an erect, white wooly, annual
herb, growing up to 7.5-31.0 cm tall, woody at base. Stem is round,
much branched, tinged purplish. Leaves are stalkless, blade tapering at
base, linear, linear-lanceshaped, oblong-inverted-lanceshaped, surfaces
densely white, wooly below sparsely wooly above, margins serrulate or
entire. Flower-heads are numerous, stalkless or shortly stalked,
involucral bracts are 4-5 seriate, overlapping, rough, pale-yellow,
brownish-tinged spines, linear-oblong, margins scarious. Flowers are
tubular-bell-shaped, tube 5 lobed, divided more than half of the flower
length, pointed, curled. Anthers barbellate, tip pointed. Style 0.5 cm
long, cypsels pale-brown, 10-ribbed, base wedge-shaped, densely
silky-hairy. Flowering: September-October.
Medicinal uses: Root is used for toothache.
Whole plant is useful in febrile attacks to which women are prone to
after child birth. The plant is applied as a dressing to septic wounds,
and is used in a fumigation to relieve skin-itch. The leaves and fruit
are burnt in a hole over which the patient squats when treating pain in
the testicles.
Identification credit: Navendu Pāgé
Photographed in Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh.
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The flower labeled Woolly Dicoma is ...