Xanthium strumarium L.
| Synonym : | Xanthium indicum DC. Xanthium abyssinicum Wallr. Xanthium acerosum Greene Xanthium chinense Mill. |
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| Bangla Name : | Ghagra, Banokra, Lehra, Bichaphal, Lengra (Chakma), Son Keng (Bowm). |
| English Name : | Cocklebur, Burweed. |
| Family : | Asteraceae |
| Disease : | urinary and renal complaints,gleet, leucorrhoea, menorrhagia,hydrophobia,in cancer,strumous diseases |
| Description : | A coarse annual about a metre or more high. Leaves numerous, 5-7.5 cm long and almost as broad as long, broadly triangular-ovate or suborbicular, acute, often 3-lobed, rough with appressed hairs, irregularly inciso-serrate. Heads in terminal and axillary racemes. Fruit ovoid, about 1.6 cm long, with 2 erect mucronate beaks, thickly clothed with usually hooked prickles. |
| Distribution : | All over Bangladesh in fallow lands. |
| Chemical Constituents : | Heptacosanol, stigmasterol, ?-sitosterol and its glucoside, 3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid, KCl, KNO3 and K2SO4 have been isolated from roots and stems. Leaves contain xanthumin, isohexacosane, chlrobutanol, stearyl alcohol, ?-sitosterol, palmitic acid, strum |
| Uses : | The plant is diaphoretic, sedative, sudorific, diuretic, sialagogue and depressant to central nervous system, considered useful in long standing malaria. Decoction of the plant is useful in urinary and renal complaints, in gleet, leucorrhoea and menorrhag |
| Habit : | Tree |