Family: Asteraceae
Synonym:Artemisia minima L.
Bengali/Vernacular name: Hachuti, Mechuta, Nakchikni, Machiti, Dal phul.
Tribal name: Hangsaudi (Marma).
English name: Spreading sneeze weed.
Description of the plant: A prostrate or ascending, slender, leafy herb, somewhat wooly or nearly smooth, with numerous branches spreading from the root, and 8-20 cm long. Leaves oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, 1 cm long or less, and with few coarse teeth on the margins. Heads stalkless, rounded, 3-4 mm in diameter, many flowered, and borne singly in the axils of the leaves, flowers yellowish. Fruit a cypsela, linear to oblanceolate with apical corona.
Plant parts used: Leaf, stem, whole plant.
Herbal uses: Paste prepared from the leaves of the plant is applied to the infected teeth to relief toothache.
Fresh juice extracted from the plant is given in the infected eye thrice a day (one drop each time) for three days to treat ophthalmia.
The plant is used in general as a treatment for eye and sinus infections and nose polyps.
The plant is also used as a treatment against cough, common cold, and bronchitis.
A paste made with the leaves and stems of the plant is used as a topical application totreat swellings and inflammations.
A decoction made with the leaves and stems of the plant is used for the treatment of paralysis and pain in the joints, and also used as a remedy for malaria, hepatitis, diabetes mellitus, eczema, insect bites, and opium poisoning.
A paste made with the plant is used to treat worms, sprain, bone fracture, and poisonous snake bite.
Distribution: The species occurs in Chittagong, Noakhali, Comilla, Sylhet, Sunamganj, and Jessore districts, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Is this plant misidentified? If yes, please tell us….
