Chandigarh Forests
Department of Forest & Wildlife
UT Administration
Chandigarh
Department of Forest & Wildlife
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Division
|
Angiosperms |
|
Class
|
Dicotledons |
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Subclass
|
Apetalae |
|
Order |
Centrospermales |
|
Family |
Nyctaginaceae |
|
Genus |
Boerhaavia |
|
Species |
diffusa |
|
Etymology: |
In honour of Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738) a fomous Dutch physician, professor of botany at Leyden |
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Botanical name:
|
Boerhavia diffusa Linn. |
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Local/Trade names: |
Pigweed |
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Description: |
A diffuse herb with prostrate or ascending branches. Leaves in unequal pairs, ovate or suborbicular, margins undulate. Flowers pink, minute in small bractate umbels of 4-10, arranged in long stalked, axillary and terminal panicles. Fruit highly viscid, one seeded. |
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Distribution: |
It is found frequently in wastelands and roadsides in suntropical regions below 1000 m elevation. It is propagated by shoot cutting. |
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Where to see it: |
Wild in the garden. |
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Uses: |
The plant is bitter, astringent, cooling, anthelmintic, diuretic, aphrodisiac, cardiac, stimulant, diaphoretic, emetic, expectorant, anti-inflammatory, febrifuge, laxative and tonic. It is useful in all types of inflammations, strangury, leucorrhoea, ophthalmia, lumbago, myalgia, scabies, cardiac disorders, jaundice, anaemia, dyspepsia, constipation, cough, bronchitis and general debility. |
