Cyanthillium cinereum (L.) H.Rob.

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Asterales > Asteraceae > Cyanthillium > C. cinereum

Description: Cyanthillium cinereum is an erect herb, 20 to 80 cm high, slightly branched and covered with fine gray hairs. The leaves are simple, alternate and variable in shape, oval, obovate or lanceolate, 2 to 8 cm in length and 1 to 3.5 cm wide. They are carried by a short petiole, 5-15 mm, poorly differentiated from the base of the blade attenuated in corner and decurrent. The apex is wedged, the margin entire and wavy or coarsely dentated. Both sides are covered with gray hairs, finely velvety. Flowers: Pinkish-violet, in small heads forming divaricate terminal corymbs. Bract 1, small, linear below each head, and small bracts in the forks of the peduncles. Involucral bracts linear-lanceolate, awned, silky below. Pappus hairy, white. Corolla equal, regular, tubular, lobes 5, Stamens 5, Ovary inferior, style bifid, hairy. Fruit: Cypsela square, oblong, narrow at base, hairy.

Flowering and Fruiting: November - February

Uses: Edible Uses: Leaves - cooked. The slightly bitter leaves are used as a potherb or added to soups. Medicinal: Ash-colored fleabane is used in Ayurvedic herbal medicine as an alterative, diaphoretic and febrifuge. The whole plant, including the seed and the roots, is used. A decoction of the whole plant is employed to promote perspiration in the treatment of fevers. It is seen as a good remedy for bladder spasms and strangury. The juice of the plant is used to treat piles.

Cultivation: Wild

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org