Euphorbia hirta L.

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CLASSIFICATION

ORDER : Malpighiales
FAMILY : Euphorbiaceae
GENUS : Euphorbia L.
SPECIES : hirta L.
BOTANICAL NAME : Euphorbia hirta L.
SYNONYMS : ---
COMMON NAME : Asthma weed.
TAMIL NAME : Amman paccharisi.
HINDI NAME : Bara dudhi.

PLANT DESCRIPTION

HABIT :  Suberect or procumbent herbs, simple or branched with stems and branches yellowish or reddish, pilose, more or less flexuose, faintly striate, somewhat woody at the base, slightly thickened at the nodes.
LEAVES :  Elliptic, ovate, oblong-lanceolate or rhomboid-oblong, acute or sub-acute at apex, obliquely rounded at base, minutely toothed along the margins, green, at times purplish on lower surface and with black spots on upper surface, appressedly hairy, stipules green or purplish, minutely toothed, petioles terete, hairy.
INFLORESCENCE AND FLOWERS :  Greenish-yellow or at times pinkish-purple, axillary, solitary, peduncles hairy, glands 4-6, reddish, minute, with or without a minute petaloid limb, erect.
FRUITS :  Capsules hairy, trilobed. Seeds reddish-brown, obtusely ovoid-trigonous, faintly transversely rugose.
FLOWERING AND FRUITING TIME :  Almost throughout the year.

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.

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