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Centaurea calcitrapa

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Botanical Name : Centaurea calcitrapa
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Cynareae
Genus: Centaurea
Species: C. calcitrapa
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales

Common Nams:  Common Star Thistle, Red star-thistle, Purple starthistle

Habitat : Centaurea calcitrapa is native to Europe but is rarely found there, it is known across the globe as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. It grows  on  waysides and waste places on sandy, gravelly and chalky soils.

Description:
Centaurea calcitrapa is an annual or Biennial plant growing erect to a maximum height of one  to 1.3 metres.
The stems are hairless and grooved.

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It sometimes takes the shape of a mound, and it is finely to densely hairy to spiny. The leaves are dotted with resin glands. The lowermost may reach a length of 20 centimeters and are deeply cut into lobes. The inflorescence contains a few flower heads. Each is 1.5 to 2 centimeters long and oval in general shape. The phyllaries are green or straw-colored and tipped in tough, sharp yellow spines. The head contains many bright purple flowers. The fruit is an achene a few millimeters long which lacks a pappus.

It flowers from July until September, and the seeds ripen from August to October.

The Red Star-thistle has been identified as a Priority Species by the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. It is identified as ‘vulnerable’ by the UNIC and is listed as Nationally Rare in the UK Red Data Book. There is no national or Sussex BAP for this species.

Cultivation:
Succeeds in ordinary garden soil. Prefers a well-drained fertile soil and a sunny position. Tolerates dry, low fertility and alkaline soils. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer.

Propagation:
Seed – sow April in a cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. If you have sufficient seed, it can also be sown in situ during August/September.
Edible Uses: Leaves and young stems – raw or cooked.

Medicinal Uses:
Star thistle has had medicinal use, most notably for reducing fevers.  In the 19th century, one botanist noted that Americans were employing the plant for kidney complaints such as nephritis and gravel.  A modern European herbal lists the seeds as a diuretic and suggests a palatable prescription made by crushing them in white wine. It also recommends an infusion of the leaves and flowers for fevers and general debility.  For a more potent remedy, the herbal mentions brewing the leaves with angelica, wormwood, or white willow bark.  The powdered root is said to be a cure for fistula and gravel.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurea_calcitrapa
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=5205+1622+2824+0051
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_RST.htm
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Centaurea_calcitrapa_01.JPG

http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Centaurea+calcitrapa

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Helenium amarum

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Botanical Name : Helenium amarum
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Helenieae
Genus: Helenium
Species: H. amarum
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales

Common Names:yellowdicks, yellow sneezeweed, and bitter sneezeweed

Habitat :Helenium amarum is native to much of the southeastern United States and northern Mexico, and it is present elsewhere in North America as an introduced species.

Description:
Helenium amarum is a multibranched bushy erect plant reaching 20 to 70 centimeters in height and thickly foliated in narrow to threadlike leaves. The tops of stem branches hold inflorescences of many daisylike flower heads. Each head has a rounded center of golden yellow disc florets and a fringe of usually lighter yellow ray florets which are reflexed away from the center. The fruit is a tiny achene about a millimeter long. This herb is weedy in some areas. The plant is somewhat toxic to mammals and insects due to the presence of the lactone tenulin.
……

Medicinal Uses:
The plant has been used to cause sneezing and thus clear the nasal passages of mucus.  A decoction of the entire plant can be used in a sweat bath to treat dropsy and swellings.  It is also a strong fish poison

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helenium_amarum
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_RST.htm
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/ast/helenium_amarum.htm

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Eryngium yuccifolium

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Botanical Name : Eryngium yuccifolium
Family : Apiaceae – Carrot family
Genus : Eryngium L. – eryngo
Species: Eryngium yuccifolium Michx. – button eryngo
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom :Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision:Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division:Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class:Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order : Apiales

Common Names : Rattlesnake master, Button eryngo

Habitat :Rattlesnake master is found generally in wet or dry prairies and open woods in the southeast US, north to Virginia, and throughout the Midwest to Minnesota, Kansas and Texas.

It is a Missouri native plant which occurs in rocky woods, prairies and glades throughout the State and was a common plant of the tallgrass prairie.

Description:
Rattlesnake master is a warm-season perennial native forb which grows well on wet or dry mesic prairie soil.  Plants grow 2 to 6 feet tall from a short, thick rootstock.  The bluish green basal leaves are up to 3 feet long and up to 1½ inches wide.  The leaves along the stem are much shorter, but they may be as wide as the basal leaves.  All the leaves are thick and parallel veined and have soft or weak prickles spaced far apart along the edges.  The leaf bases clasp the single, erect stem.  Flower heads are on stout peduncles at the tip of the stem.  Each nearly spherical flower head is from 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter and is made up of many small flowers.  Whitish bracts stick out sharply from the flowers, which gives the flower head a rough, prickly feel and appearance.  The heads have a honey-like odor and are in bloom June to September.  Individual fruits, which mature in the flower head, are less than 1/10 inch long.  The root of rattlesnake master has been used medicinally by American Indians and pioneers.  Eryngium is Greek for “prickly plant” and yuccifolium is Greek for “yucca leaves.”

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Medicinal Uses:
The plant was used as an antidote to snakebites. The roots were chewed and applied to the bite. The roots have been used medicinally for liver ailments, to increase urine flow, to induce vomiting, and to treat rattlesnake bite.  Very useful in dropsy, nephritic and calculus affections, also in scrofula and syphilis.  It is valuable as a diaphoretic and expectorant in pulmonary affections and used when Senega is not available.  There is some effect in treating inflammations and malaria.  The pulverized root is very effective in hemorrhoids and prolapsus.  Chewing the root results in increased saliva flow.   A liquid made from roots mashed in cold water was drunk to relieve muscular pains.  The roots have also been used for rheumatism, respiratory ailments, and kidney trouble.  A decoction of the roots has been found useful in cases of exhaustion from sexual depletion, with loss of erectile power, seminal emissions and orchitis. A tincture of the roots is used in the treatment of female reproductive disorders.       Rattlesnake master is reported to have bitter aromatic constituents.  No research seems to have been done on the effectiveness of rattlesnake master in the treatment on rattlesnake bites, but an extract of Eryngium creticum was found to be effective as an antivenum to the sting of the scorpion Leiurus quinuqestristus.  This Eryngium grows in Jordan, where it is used by people in rural areas for scorpion stings.

Other Uses:
Native plant gardens, naturalized areas or prairies. Also can be effective in borders.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/plant.asp?code=G500
http://www.millagardens.co.uk/index.php/2011/07/eryngium-yuccifolium/
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ERYU
http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/image.asp?image=G500-0901020.jpg
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_RST.htm
http://www.easywildflowers.com/quality/ery.yucci.htm

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Parthenium incanum

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Botanical Name : Parthenium incanum
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Heliantheae
Genus: Parthenium
Species: P. Incanum
Kingdom: lantae
Order: Asterales

Common Name :Mariola or  New Mexico rubber plant

Habitat :Parthenium incanum is native to North America, from the Southwestern United States through Northern, Central, and Southwestern Mexico. Habitats include desert grasslands including in the Chihuahuan Desert, on dry gravel slopes, and on plains.

Description:
Parthenium incanum  is a  deciduous shrub, mariola, is intricately branched from the base and reaches a height of 1 1/2-3 ft. Its branches and lobed leaves are cottony pubescent, lending and overall grayish-white appearance. Flat-topped flower heads, made up of many small, white flowers, terminate the main branches.
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Le af blades oval-elliptic to obovate, 15-25(-40+) × 6-15(-25+) mm, sometimes pinnately (3-)5-7-lobed or round-toothed, ultimate margins entire, faces tomentose (gray to white) and gland-dotted. Heads radiate, in glomerules of 3-5+ on branched stalks 1-5(-12+) cm, forming compound, corymbiform arrays. Peduncles 1-3+ mm. Phyllaries: outer 5 oblong, 1.5-2 mm, inner 5 orbiculate, 2-2.5 mm. Pistillate florets 5; corolla laminae ovate, 1-1.5 mm. Disc florets 8-20(-30+). Cypselae obovoid, 1.5-2 mm; pappus-like enations 2(-3), erect to spreading, ± subulate, 0.5-1 mm. 2n = 54. Flowering (May-)Jul-Nov. Openings in desert scrub, often on limestone soils; 1000-1500 m; Ariz., Nev., N.Mex., Tex., Utah; Mexico.

Medicinal Uses:
The cold tea is taken for liver pain and for gallbladder spasms with semi-formed diarrhea.  Small amounts of the tea are taken for pregnancy morning sickness.  The salted tea is gargled and swallowed to relieve sore throats and tonsillitis.  Cold infusion of the herb, 2-4 fluid ounces up to 45 times a day.  For morning sickness, 1-2 fluid ounces up to 4 times a day.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PAIN2
http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=2320
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenium_incanum

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Wormseed

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Botanical Name : Artemisia cina
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Artemisia
Species: A. cina
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales

Common Names: Santonica (zahr el shieh el -khorasani), Levant wormseed, and Wormseed

Habitat :It is native to China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan,  Russia, Mongolia and Eastern Europe. Growing in the arid areas.

Description:
it is a small scrub-like plant that produces very small flower heads each containing no more than five very small yellow flowers.
The plant is low and shrubby, throwing up a number of erect stems on which the little greenish-yellow, oblong flower-heads are borne. Each head is about 1/8 inch long and 1/16 inch in diameter, and contains three to five minute, tubular flowers. In July and August, before the flowers expand, they are stripped from the stems and dried, being brought into Chimkent by the Kirghiz and other tribes.

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Constituents:
The chief constituent of Wormseed is a crystalline principle, Santonin, to which the anthelmintic property of the drug is due. Santonin attains its maximum 2.3 to 3.6 per cent in July and August; after the flowerheads have expanded, it rapidly diminishes in quantity. It is extracted from the flower-heads by treating them with Milk of Lime, the Santonin being converted into soluble calcium santonate. It occurs in colourless, shining, flat prisms, without odour and almost tasteless at first, but afterwards developing a bitter taste. It is sparingly soluble in water, but soluble in alcohol and ether.

Wormseed also contains a crystalline substance, Artemisin, and a yellow volatile oil consisting of Cineol, to which its odour is due.

Medicinal Uses:
Wormseed is one of the oldest and most common anthelmintics, especially for children. In domestic practice the seeds are used powdered, combined with honey or treacle, the dose of the seeds taken thus in substance being 10 to 30 grains. The seeds have also been employed in infusion or decoction, but in these forms their bitterness is a strong objection. As a general rule, however, the crude drug Wormseed is seldom administered, its active constituent Santonin being employed. It acts as a direct poison to parasites, and is used as a remedy for round-worms, which it rapidly expels; it has also an effect on thread-worms to a lesser degree, but has no action on tapeworms. It is usually administered as a powder or in lozenges, not in solution, and is often given with calomel, or compound powder of scammony.

Vermifuge. Santonin is particularly active against round-worms, and to some extent against threadworms.  Wormseed has been taken combined with honey or treacle or as a decoction, it must be used with care as high doses are toxic.

Known Hazards:
Santonin is very toxic in even small doses. Several fatalities of Santonin Poisoning have been recorded. Wormseed contains up to 5% Santonin so it is potentially fatally toxic as a herb. Do not administer unless supervised by your doctor. Symptoms of Santonin poisoning are: disturbed vision, headaches, nausea, vomiting and in extreme cases convulsions.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_cina
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_LMN.htm
http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/w/worlav36.html
http://beneforce.com/informationfaq/herbal-medicines/wormseed.htm

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