''Achyranthes aspera'' (common names: chaff-flower, prickly chaff flower, devil's horsewhip, Sanskrit: अपामार्ग ''apāmārga'') is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

. It is distributed throughout the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

world. It can be found in many places growing as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

and a common

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

. It is an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

in some areas, including many

Pacific Islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

environments.Pacific Islands Ecosystems at Risk
/ref>

Description

*Habit : A wild, perennial, erect herb. *Stem : Herbaceous but woody below, erect, branched, cylindrical, solid, angular, hairy, longitudinally striated, nodes and internodes are prominent, green but violet or pink at nodes. *Leaves : Ramal and cauline, simple, exstipulate, opposite decussate, petiolate, ovate or obovate, entire, acute or acuminate, hairy all over, unicostate reticulate. *Inflorescence : A spike with reflexed flowers arranged on long peduncle. *Flowers :Bracteate , bracteolate , bracteoles two, shorter than perianth , dry, membranous and persistent, sessile, complete, hermaphrodite, actinomorphic , pentamerous, hypogynous, small, spinescent, green. *Bracts ovate, persistent, awned. *Perianth made up of 5 tepals, polyphyllous, imbricate or quincuncial, green, ovate to oblong, persistent. *Androecium made up of 10 stamens, out of which 5 are fertile and 5 are scale-like, fimbriated, sterile staminodes, both alternating with each other, fertile stamens are antiphyllous, monadelphous, filaments slightly fused at the base, dithecous, dorsifixed or versatile, introrse. *Gynoecium: it is bicarpellary, syncarpous, superior, unilocular, ovule one, basal placentation, style single and filiform, stigma capitate. *Fruits : Oblong utricle *Seeds : Endospermic with curved embryo, 2 mm long, oblong black. *Flowering and Fruiting time : September to April

Significance

*It is very useful in dropsy, piles, boils and for colic in children. *It is also used as a cure for cough.

Uses

The juice of this plant is a potent ingredient for a mixture of wall plaster, according to the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra, which is a Sanskrit treatise dealing with Śilpaśāstra (Hindu precepts of art and construction). It is one of the 21 leaves used in the Ganesh Patra Pooja done regularly on

Ganesh Chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi (ISO: ), also known as Vinayak Chaturthi (), or Ganeshotsav () is a Hindu festival commemorating the birth of the Hindu god Ganesha. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha's clay idols privately in homes and p ...

day.

Traditional medicine

''A. aspera'' has been used in folk medicine in countries including Australia. Chirchita

The 1889 book ''The Useful Native Plants of Australia'' records that this plant was found "in all the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the old world. The herb is administered in India in cases of

dropsy Edema, also spelled oedema, and also known as fluid retention, dropsy, hydropsy and swelling, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may include skin which feels tight, the area ma ...

. The seeds are given in hydrophobia, and in cases of snake-bites, as well as in

ophthalmia Ophthalmia (also called ophthalmitis) is inflammation of the eye. It results in congestion of the eyeball, often eye-watering, redness and swelling, itching and burning, and a general feeling of irritation under the eyelids. Ophthalmia can have d ...

and cutaneous diseases. The flowering spikes, rubbed with a little sugar, are made into pills, and given internally to people bitten by mad dogs. The leaves, taken fresh and reduced to a pulp, are considered a good remedy when applied externally to the bites of

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

s. The ashes of the plant yield a considerable quantity of

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

, which is used in washing clothes. The flowering spike has the reputation in India (Oude) of being a safeguard against scorpions, which it is believed to paralyse. (Drury.)"

Chemical constituents

''Achyranthes aspera'' contains

triterpenoid Triterpenes are a class of chemical compounds composed of three terpene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of six isoprene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squale ...

saponin Saponins (Latin "sapon", soap + "-in", one of), also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed ...

s which possess

oleanolic acid Oleanolic acid or oleanic acid is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid related to betulinic acid. It is widely distributed in food and plants where it exists as a free acid or as an aglycone of triterpenoid saponins. Natural occurre ...

as the

aglycone An aglycone (aglycon or genin) is the compound remaining after the glycosyl group on a glycoside is replaced by a hydrogen atom. For example, the aglycone of a cardiac glycoside would be a steroid molecule. Detection A way to identify aglycone ...

Ecdysterone 20-Hydroxyecdysone (ecdysterone or 20E) is a naturally occurring ecdysteroid hormone which controls the ecdysis (moulting) and metamorphosis of arthropods. It is therefore one of the most common moulting hormones in insects, crabs, etc. It is als ...

, an insect moulting

hormone A hormone (from the Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are required ...

, and long chain alcohols are also found in ''Achyranthes aspera''.Indian Herbal Pharmacopia Vol. II, Page-5.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3286822

aspera Aspera may refer to: Music * Aspera (band), an American indie rock band * ''(a)spera'', a 2009 album by Mirah * Above Symmetry, a Norwegian progressive metal band originally known as Aspera * "Aspera", the lead track from ''We Will Become Like Bir ...

Flora of Nepal Medicinal plants of Asia Plants described in 1753 Plants used in traditional African medicine Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus