Ageratum conyzoides (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

1, plant habit; 2, flowering head; 3, flower; 4, fruit with pappus (Achmad Satiri Nurhaman)

Ageratum conyzoides L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 2: 839 (1753).

Vernacular names

• Goatweed (En).
• Eupatoire bleue (Fr)
• Indonesia: babadotan (Sundanese), wedusan (Javanese), dus-bedusan (Madurese)
• Malaysia: tahi anjing, rumput pereh jarang, rumput sekedok (Peninsular)
• Philippines: bulak-manok (Tagalog), singilan (Iloko), bahug-bahug (Panay Bisaya)
• Thailand: thiam mae haang (Loei), saapraeng saapkaa (Chiang Mai), ya saap raeng (Ratchaburi)
• Vietnam: cây bông cứt heo, cây hoa cứt lợn, cây bông thúi.

Distribution

Originating from Central and South America, but now a pantropical weed that is very common throughout India, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Thailand and Malesia.

Uses

The most widespread medicinal uses are externally to heal wounds and to treat skin diseases, and internally to treat diarrhoea, as a febrifuge and as an anti-allergenic agent. The plant yields an insecticide. It is sometimes planted as a ground cover in plantations, e.g. of rubber and citrus.

Observations

• An annual erect herb, at the base sometimes decumbent and rooting, up to 120(-150) cm tall, stems with rather long hairs on the nodes and younger parts.
• Leaves ovate, triangular-ovate or rhomboid-ovate, (0.5-)1-10 cm × 0.5-7 cm, with obtuse or rounded base.
• Head 4-6 mm long, 60-75-flowered, outermost involucral bracts beset with only simple eglandular hairs, inner involucral bracts with abruptly contracted apex; corolla 1-2.5 mm long.
• Fruit glabrous or very sparingly hairy.

A. conyzoides is very common in fields, roadsides and waste places up to 2500 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Adesogan, E.K. & Okunade, A.L., 1979. A new flavone from Ageratum conyzoides. Phytochemistry 18(11): 1863-1864.
• Backer, C.A., 1951. Phytolaccaceae. In: van Steenis, C.G.G.J. (General editor): Flora Malesiana. Series 1, Vol. 4. Noordhoff Kolff, Djakarta, Indonesia. pp. 228-232.
• Bioka, D. & Mabika, A., 1993. Effet analgesique d'un extrait brut d'Ageratum conyzoides chez le rat [Analgesic effect of a crude extract from Ageratum conyzoides on the rat]. In: Schilcher, H., Phillipson, J.D. & Loew, D. (Editors): Pharmacology, phytotherapy, human welfare, regional aspects. Proceedings of the First World Congress on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants for Human Welfare, WOCMAP. Maastricht, the Netherlands, July 19-25, 1992. Acta Horticulturae 332: 171-176.
• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I- Z) pp. 1241-2444.
• de Padua, L.S., Lugod, G.C. & Pancho, J.V., 1977-1983. Handbook on Philippine medicinal plants. 4 volumes. Documentation and Information Section, Office of the Director of Research, University of the Philippines at Los Baños, the Philippines.
• Dharma, A.P., 1981. Indonesische geneeskrachtige planten [Indonesian medicinal plants]. De Driehoek, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 168 pp.
• Durodola, J.I., 1977. Antibacterial property of crude extracts from a herbal wound healing remedy- Ageratum conyzoides. Planta Medica 32(4): 388-390.
• Gonzalez, A.G., Aguiar, Z.E., Grillo, T.A., Luis, J.G., Rivera, A. & Calle, J., 1991a. Chromenes from Ageratum conyzoides. Phytochemistry 30(4): 1137-1139.
• Gonzalez, A.G., Aguiar, Z.E., Grillo, T.A., Luis, J.G., Rivera, A. & Calle, J., 1991b. Methoxyflavones from Ageratum conyzoides. Phytochemistry 30(4): 1269-1271.
• Hänsel, R. et al. (Editors), 1992. Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutishe Praxis [Hagers handbook of the practice of pharmacology]. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1209 pp.
• Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• Holdsworth, D.K., 1977. Medicinal plants of Papua New Guinea. Technical Paper No 175. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 123 pp.
• Holm, L.G., Plucknett, D.L., Pancho, J.V. & Herberger, J.P., 1977. The world's worst weeds. Distribution and biology. East West Center, the University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu, United States. 609 pp.
• Horie, T., Tominaga, H. & Kawamura, Y., 1993. Revised structure of a natural flavone from Ageratum conyzoides. Phytochemistry 32(4): 1076-1077.
• Johnson, M.F., 1971. A monograph of the genus Ageratum L. (Compositae Eupatorieae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 58(1): 6-88.
• Kaul, M.L.H. & Neelangini, 1989. Male sterility in diploid Ageratum conyzoides L. Cytologia 54(3): 445-448.
• Lu, C.F., Yang, L.L. & Yen, K.Y., 1992. Immunomodulative effects of Taiwan herbs. Journal of the Chinese Society of Veterinary Science 18(4): 233-242. (in Chinese)
• Mensah, M., Sarpong, K., Baser, K.H.C. & Ozek, T., 1993. The essential oil of Ageratum conyzoides L. from Ghana. Journal of Essential Oil Research 5(1): 113-115.
• Menut, C., Lamaty, G., Zollo, P.H.A., Kuiate, J.R. & Bessiere, J.M., 1993. Aromatic plants of tropical central Africa. Part X. Chemical composition of the essential oils of Ageratum houstonianum Mill. and Ageratum conyzoides L. from Cameroon. Flavour and Fragrance Journal 8(1): 1-4.
• Murdiati, T. & Stoltz, D.R., 1987. Investigation of suspected plant poisoning of North Sumatran cattle. Penyakit Hewan 19: 101-105.
• Nguyen Van Dan & Pham Truong Thi Tho, 1973. Contribution to the study of Ageratum conyzoides. Thong bao Duoc lieu 20: 9-19. (in Vietnamese)
• Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
• Ong, H.C., 1990. Additional medicinal uses of Ageratum conyzoides L. Wallaceana 62-63: 4-5.
• Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
• Pham Truong Thi Tho & Nguyen Van Dan, 1976. Contribution to the study of Ageratum conyzoides. Second Communication: ageratochromene and dimethoxy ageratochromene- the two main compounds of A. conyzoides essential oil. Thong bao Duoc lieu 8(3): 107-114. (in Vietnamese)
• Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
• Roder, E., Wiedenfeld, H., Kersten, R. & Kroger, R., 1990. Determination of open chain pyrrolizidine alkaloids by capillary gas chromatography. Planta Medica 56(6): 522.
• Sahu, T.R., 1982. Taxonomic studies of the genus Ageratum L. in India. Feddes Repertorium 93(1-2): 61-65.
• Saxena, R.C., Jayashree, S., Padma, S. & Dixit, O.P., 1994. Evaluation of growth disrupting activity of Ageratum conyzoides crude extract on Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae). Journal of Environmental Biology 15(1): 67-74.
• Sharma, V.S., 1987. Comments on the identity of Ageratum conyzoides L., and A. houstonianum Mill.- two naturalized weeds in India. Feddes Repertorium 98(11-12): 557-560.
• Soerjani, M., Kostermans, A.J.G.H. & Tjitrosoepomo, G., (Editors) 1987. Weeds of rice in Indonesia. Balai Pustaka, Jakarta, Indonesia. 716 pp.
• Sujatha, C.H., Vasuki, V., Mariappan, T., Kalyanasundaram, M. & Das, P.K., 1988. Evaluation of plant extracts for biological activity against mosquitoes. International Pest Control 30(5): 122, 124.
• Vera, R., 1993. Chemical composition of the essential oil of Ageratum conyzoides L. (Asteraceae) from Réunion. Flavour and Fragrance Journal 8(5): 257-260.
• Wijayakusuma, H.M.H., Dalimartha, S. & Wirian, S.W., 1994. Tanaman berkhasiat obat di Indonesia [Plants yielding medicine in Indonesia]. Vol. 3. Pustaka Kartini, Jakarta, Indonesia. 143 pp.
• Wong, S.M., Swanson, M.M. & Harrison, B.D., 1993. A geminivirus causing vein yellowing of Ageratum conyzoides in Singapore. Plant Pathology 42(1): 137-139.
• Zhu, L. F., Li, Y. H., Li, B. L., Lu, B. Y., Xia, N. H. & Zhang, W. L., 1993. Aromatic plants and essential constituents. Hai Feng Publishing, Hong Kong, China. 300 pp.

Main genus page

• Ageratum

Authors

• Slamet Sutanti Budi Rahayu, Rina Ratnasih Irwanto & L.J.G. van der Maesen