Common Name: Asthma Weed
Vernacular Name:നിലപ്പാല
Systematic position:
Class- Magnoliopsida
Subclass- Rosidae
Order- Malpighiales
Family- Euphorbiaceae
Genus- Euphorbia
Species- E. hirta
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Description: E. hirta is distributed throughout the hotter parts of India and Australia, often found in waste places along the roadsides. It is a hairy herb that grows in open grasslands, roadsides and pathways. This erect or prostrate annual herb can grow up to 60 cm long with a solid, hairy stem that produces an abundant white latex. There are stipules present. The leaves are simple, elliptical, hairy (on both upper and lower surfaces but particularly on the veins on the lower leaf surface), with a finely dentate margin. Leaves occur in opposite pairs on the stem. The flowers are unisexual and found in axillary cymes at each leaf node. They lack petals and are generally on a stalk. The fruit is a capsule with three valves and produces tiny, oblong, four-sided red seeds. It has a white or brown taproot.
Flowering and Fruiting: Almost throughout the year.
Economic Importance: It is widely used in traditional herbal medicine across many cultures, particularly for asthma, skin ailments, and hypertension. It is also consumed in herbal tea form as folk medicine for fevers in the Philippines (where it is known as tawa-tawa), particularly for dengue fever and malaria.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_hirta
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