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Euphorbia hirta

Plant species in the spurge family

Summary

Plant species in the spurge family

Euphorbia hirta (sometimes called asthma-plant) is a pantropical weed, originating from the tropical regions of the Americas. It is a hairy herb that grows in open grasslands, roadsides and pathways. It is widely used in traditional herbal medicine across many cultures, particularly for asthma, skin ailments, and hypertension. It is also consumed in herbal tea form as folk medicine for fevers in the Philippines (where it is known as tawa-tawa), particularly for dengue fever and malaria.

Description

This erect or prostrate annual herb can grow up to 60 cm long with a solid stem that is furnished with many yellow to reddish coarse hairs, and produces an abundant white latex. There are stipules present. The leaves have an oblique base and are simple, elliptical to slightly rhombic, hairy (on both upper and lower surfaces but particularly on the veins on the lower leaf surface), with a finely dentate margin, the veins upperside being deep-set and conspicuous on the underside, and the leaf surface somewhat leathery. Leaves occur in opposite pairs on the stem. The flowers are unisexual and found in axillary cymes at each leaf node, held as dense balls of flowers and fruit capsules usually close to the stem, the flower glands with tiny white/pinkish petal-like appendages. The fruit is a capsule with three valves (creating 3 sides), uniformly appressed hairy, containing tiny (0.7–0.9 mm), oblong, four-sided orange to pink or red seeds. It has a white or brown taproot. FNA

Taxonomy

Euphorbia hirta was given its scientific name by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It continues to be classified in the genus Euphorbia within the family Euphorbiaceae. It has no accepted varieties, but has some among its synonyms.

Name	Year	Rank	Notes
Chamaesyce gemella (Lag.) Small	1913	species	= het.
Chamaesyce hirta (L.) Millsp.	1909	species	≡ hom.
Chamaesyce hirta var. glaberrima (Koidz.) H.Hara	1940	variety	= het.
Chamaesyce hirta f. glaberrima (Koidz.) Hurus.	1954	form	= het.
Chamaesyce hirta var. laeticincta Croizat	1943	variety	= het.
Chamaesyce hirta f. litoralis Hurus.	1954	form	= het.
Chamaesyce karwinskyi (Boiss.) Millsp.	1916	species	= het.
Chamaesyce pekinensis var. glaberrima (Koidz.) Makino & Nemoto	1925	variety	= het.
Chamaesyce pilulifera var. glaberrima (Koidz.) H.Hara	1938	variety	= het.
Chamaesyce rosei Millsp.	1916	species	= het.
Desmonema hirta (L.) Raf.	1833	species	≡ hom.
Ditrita hirta (L.) Raf.	1838	species	≡ hom.
Euphorbia bancana Miq.	1861	species	= het.
Euphorbia capitata Lam.	1788	species	= het.
Euphorbia chrysochaeta W.Fitzg.	1918	species	= het.
Euphorbia gemella Lag.	1816	species	= het.
Euphorbia globulifera Kunth	1817	species	= het.
Euphorbia hirta var. destituta L.C.Wheeler	1939	variety	= het.
Euphorbia hirta var. glaberrima Koidz.	1919	variety	= het.
Euphorbia hirta var. typica L.C.Wheeler	1939	variety	≡ hom., not validly publ.
Euphorbia karwinskyi Boiss.	1860	species	= het.
Euphorbia nodiflora Steud.	1840	species	= het.
Euphorbia obliterata Jacq.	1760	species	= het.
Euphorbia pilulifera var. arechavaletae Herter	1910	variety	= het.
Euphorbia pilulifera var. discolor Engelm.	1859	variety	= het.
Euphorbia pilulifera var. glabrescens Thell.	1917	variety	= het.
Euphorbia pilulifera var. guaranitica Chodat & Hassl.	1905	variety	= het.
Euphorbia pilulifera var. hirta (L.) Thell.	1917	variety	≡ hom.
Euphorbia pilulifera f. humifusa Domin	1927	form	= het.
Euphorbia pilulifera var. obliterata (Jacq.) Hitchc.	1893	variety	= het.
Euphorbia pilulifera f. rubromaculata Domin	1927	form	= het.
Euphorbia pilulifera f. viridis Domin	1927	form	= het.
Euphorbia verticillata Vell.	1829	species	= het., nom. illeg.

Names

Euphorbia hirta has many common names including garden spurge, pillpod spurge, and hairy spurge. Is is also called by the related names asthma weed, asthma plant and Queensland asthma weed. Additionally it is known as red milkweed and snakeweed.

References

{{BSBI 2007
"The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney PlantNET Database Entry". Royal Botanical Gardens Sydney.
(2010). "''Euphorbia hirta'': Its chemistry, traditional and medicinal uses, and pharmacological activities". Pharmacognosy Reviews.
(2018). "Ethnomedicinal Uses of tawatawa (Euphorbia hirta Linn.) in Selected Communities in the Philippines: a Non-invasive Ethnographic Survey Using Pictures for Plant Identification". Acta Medica Philippina.
(8 October 2019). "'Tawa-tawa': Herbal supplement that can help fight dengue". PhilStar Global.
. (2007-07-21). ["Open Source for Weed Assessment in Lowland Paddy Fields (OSWALD)"](http://www.oswaldasia.org/species/e/euphi/euphi_en.html). *Asia IT&C Programme of the European Union*.
"''Euphorbia hirta'' L.".
(2002). "A global compendium of weeds". R.G. and F.J. Richardson.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

euphorbia flora-of-northern-america flora-of-southern-america medicinal-plants-of-asia plants-described-in-1753 botanical-taxa-named-by-carl-linnaeus pantropical-flora

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