Bidens pilosa L.
Vernacular names: Hairy beggarticks, Cobbler’s pegs, Spanish needle; Indian records include Kithachedi and Snehakoora.
Species Name: Bidens pilosa L.
Family: Asteraceae
Habit: Erect annual herb, commonly 0.1–1.5 m tall; often a weed of disturbed ground, fallow fields and wastelands.
Stem: Erect, much-branched, usually 4-angled; green or sometimes reddish and glabrous to sparsely hairy.
Leaf: Opposite, usually pinnately 3–5-lobed/divided; leaflets ovate to ovate-lanceolate with serrate margins. The terminal leaflet is generally the largest.
Flowering: September–April.
Flowers: Capitula arranged in loose, terminal, panicle-like branches on relatively long peduncles. Capitula usually radiate, with white ray florets (sometimes rays absent) surrounding numerous yellow tubular disc florets. Ray florets are generally 4–8 and sterile; disc florets are bisexual and fertile.
Fruit: Characteristic black, slender, 4-angled achenes bearing 2–4 short, backward-pointing barbed awns. These awns readily attach to clothing and animal fur, aiding dispersal.
Uses:
- Topical application of crushed leaves or fresh sap helps in blood clotting, soothe burns, heal cuts and boils and in treatment of skin infections.
- Aerial parts are brewed into herbal teas that are helpful with diarrhea, general stomach pain and flatulence.
- Traditional remedies across Asia and Africa uses the decoctions of roots and leaves to reduce fever and fight against malaria parasites.
- Herbal drinks or warm compressions of plant is used to alleviates joint paint and help with arthritis.
- Decoctions of plant parts are used to regulate blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
- Young leaves and shoots are consumed raw in salads, boiled in stews and broths or cooked as leafy vegetable. It is also known as “solider vegetable” in some areas.
- This plant is used as pioneer species in restoring damaged and degraded land as it also acts as a natural nitrogen fixer for soil.
- Plant is used to extract retinol and used in skin-care industry as plant based retinol source for anti-aging and anti-pigmentation serums and creams.
