Weed Herbarium

Siyalmutra

Common Name: Lettuce-Leaf Blumea
Scientific Name: Blumea lacera (Burm.f.) DC.
Family Name: Compositae
Type: Broad Leaf

Identification Notes

EPPO Code

BLULA

Life Cycle

Annual

Morphology

Stem: Soft, erect, pubescent, branched, very leafy. Leaves: Simple, petioled, alternate, irregularly dentate. Inflorescence: heads, in axillary cymes, yellowish, rarely purple. Fruit: Achene. Seed: Small, black in color.

Growing season

Rabi and Kharif

Germination period

January - December

Flowering period

January - December

Propagation

By Seed

Habitat

Prefer dry condition of soil. Mainly found in the homestead areas, roadsides, bank of ponds, levee of crop fields and in rabi crops near homesteads.

Weed potential

Control measure

Recommended herbicide

Distribution

Tropical & Subtropical Asia to SW. Pacific.

Medicinal properties

It is use as bitter, acrid, astringent, thermogenic, errhine, styptic, anti-inflammatory, digestive, ophthalmic, liver tonic, anthelmintic, febrifuge, expectorant, diuretic, antipyretic, stimulant, and deobstruent [Mishra et al. 2015]. The methanolic leaf extract of B. lacera has been reported to reveal to have antifungal, antibacterial, cytotoxic, antipyretic, antiviral, antileukemic, and antidiarrheal activities [Satyal et al. 2015].

References

[1] Mishra P., Irchhiaya R., Mishra S. K. Phytochemical investigation and spectral studies of isolated flavonoid from ethanolic extract of whole plant Blumea lacera DC. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry . 2015;4

[2] Satyal P., Chhetri B. K., Dosoky N. S., Shrestha S., Poudel A., Setzer W. N. Chemical composition of Blumea lacera essential oil from Nepal. biological activities of the essential oil and (Z)-lachnophyllum ester. Natural Product Communications . 2015;10 doi: 10.1177/1934578X1501001028

Department of Agronomy

Bangladesh Agricultural University