False Daisy, Eclipta prostrata

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Eclipta alba (L.) Hassk. (syn. Eclipta prostrata L.), commonly known as False Daisy , yerba de tago, and bhringraj, is a plant belonging to the family Asteraceae. Root well developed, cylindrical, greyish. Floral heads 6-8 millimeter in diameter, solitary, white, achene compressed and narrowly winged. It grows commonly in moist places as a weed all over the world. It is widely distributed throughout India, China, Thailand, and Brazil. In ayurvedic medicine, the leaf extract is considered a powerful liver tonic, rejuvenative, and especially good for the hair. A black dye obtained from Eclipta alba is used for dyeing hair and tattooing. Eclipta alba also has traditional external uses, like athlete foot, eczema and dermatitis, on the scalp to address hair loss and the leaves have been used in the treatment of scorpion stings. It is used as anti-venom against snakebite in China and Brazil (Mors, 1991). It is reported to improve hair growth and colour (Kritikar and Basu 1975 and Chopra et al. 1955) The herb Eclipta alba contains mainly coumestans i.e. wedelolactone (I) and demethylwedelolactone (II), polypeptides, polyacetylenes, thiophene-derivatives, steroids, triterpenes and flavonoids. Coumestans are known to possess estrogenic activity (Bickoff et al. 1969) Wedelolactone possesses a wide range of biological activities and is used for the treatment of hepatitis and cirrhosis (Wagner et al. 1986), as an antibacterial, anti-hemorrhagic (Kosuge et al. 1985). and for direct inhibition of IKK complex resulting in suppression of LPS-induced caspase-11 expression (Kobori et al. 2004)

Plant Description

Plant Type

Annual herb

Size

3.3 ft tall

Form

Upright

Growth Rate

Moderate

Flower Color

White

Flowering Season

Summer

Wildlife Supported

Butterflies & moths hosted ( 1 likely * ) SHOW ALL

White-lined Sphinx Hyles lineataHyles lineata

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun

Soil Description

Adaptable, tolerant of sand, loam and clay

Natural Setting

Site Type

Moist places

Climate

Annual Precipitation: 2.6" - 37.2", Summer Precipitation: 0.14" - 2.02", Coldest Month: 41.6" - 63.7", Hottest Month: 65.2" - 89.5", Humidity: 0.97" - 40.15", Elevation: -224" - 4371"

Alternative Names

Common Names: Bhringraj, Yerba De Tago

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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links: Jepson eFlora Taxon Page CalPhotos Wikipedia Calflora

False Daisy

Eclipta prostrata

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False DaisyEclipta prostrata

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False Daisy

Eclipta prostrata