Eclipta alba (L.)
Family: Compositae
Common Name: False Daisy
Vernacular Names: Bhringaraj (Hindi), Kesharanjana (Sanskrit), Kaiyaanthavarai (Tamil), Kaithonni (Malayalam)
Plant Description
Eclipta alba is an erect or prostrate, branched (occasionally rooting at nodes) annual herb
Habit: Herb
Height: 30-40cm
Stem: cylindrical or flat, rough due to appressed white hairs, nodes distinct and greenish occasionally brownish.
Leaves: opposite, sessile to sub-sessile 2.0 to 6.2 cm long, 1.5-1.9 cm wide, oblong, lanceolate, sub-entire, acute to sub-acute and strigose with appressed hairs on both surfaces.
Root:
Flowers: white, solitary or two on unequal axillary peduncles involucral bracts are about 8 in number, ovate, obtuse or acute and strigose with oppressed hairs.
Fruit: achenial cypsela, one seeded, cuneate, with a narrow wing and brown in colour
Medicinal Properties
• The whole plant is used as antiseptic, febrifuge, tonic, deobstruent in hepatic and spleen enlargement and is emetic.
• In combination with aromatics, the juice is given in anemia, catarrh and cough.
• The plant is also used as scalp tonic for promoting hair growth.
• Bhringaraj is commonly used as deobstruent to promote bile flow and to protect the liver parenchymatous tissue in viral hepatitis and other conditions involving hepatic enlargement.
• The fresh juice of the leaves is given in the treatment of edema, fevers, liver disorders, and rheumatic joint pains; it is also used to improve the appetite and to stimulate digestion.
• The juice is given with honey to treat upper respiratory congestion in children.
• The hair oil is prepared from boiling the fresh leaves with either coconut or sesame oil renders the hair black and lustrous.
© 2024 Sree Ayyappa College for Women. All Right Reserved.Designed & Developed by Innov Touch Technologies Pvt Ltd.
