Achyranthes aspera
Achyranthes aspera L. / Amaranthaceae
Achyranthes aspera L.English name:
Description:
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Prickly chaff-flower.
Herbaceous plant about 1m. high. Stems erect, pubescent, swollen at the nodes. Leaves opposite, short-petioled, margins undulate. Flowers numerous, stiffly deflected against the pubescent rachis in elongate terminal spike, 20-30 cm. long. Utricle oblong-cylindrical, enclosed in the hardened perianth, brown. Seeds oblong-ovoid.
July - December.
Grows wild along roadsides.
The whole, plant, especially the roots. Collected throughout the year, they are carefully washed and sun-dried or heat-dried.
The roots contain triterpenoid saponins that on hydrolysis give oleanolic acid and a sugar portion consisting of glucose, galactose and rhamnose.
The whole plant and especially the roots, characterized by their anti-inflammatory and uterine stimulant activity, are prescribed in the therapy of rheumatism, contusions, lumbago, osteodynia, dysuria, post-partum haematometra and dysmenorrhoea. The daily dose is 8 to 16g in the form of a decoction. The drug is used on its own or in combination with some other plants.
Medicinal plants in Viet Nam (Institute of Materia Medica - HANOI - WHO/WPRO, 1990, 444 p.