A Useful Weed Blumea lacera L.

Research Note - Pankaj Oudhia
© 2001,2002,2003 Pankaj Oudhia - All Rights Reserved

Blumea lacera L. (Family : Compositae) is one of the common rabi weeds of India (Oudhia and Tripathi, 1999a). It occurs throughout the plains of India from the north-west ascending to 2,000 ft in the Himalayas. It is a common roadside weed in Ceylon and Malaya. It is distributed to the Malay Islands, Australia, China and Tropical Africa. Blumea genus consists of about 80 species (Caius, 1986). B. lacera competes with rabi crops like linseed, chickpea. wheat, etc. for light, food and moisture (Oudhia, 1997) and harbours diseases and insects like Euplexia dolorosa. Eublemma trifasiciata, etc. (Lefroy, 1909). Blumea is described as valuable medicinal plant in many popular systems of medicine including Ayurvedic, Homoeopathy. Yunani, etc. Stimulatory allelopathy of different parts of B. lacera on many agricultural crops has also been reported (Oudhia, 1996). Not much work has been done on various utility aspects of B. lacera.

Common and popular names of Kukronda (Blumea lacera) around the world.
Languages/Regions/Countries	Names
1) Arabic	Kamafitus
2) Bengal	BurasuKsung, Kukurmuta, Kukursunga
3) Myanmar	Maiyagan
4) Gujarati	Kolhar, Pilo Kapurio
5) Hindi	Jangli Muli, Kukronda, Kakronda
6) Marathi	Bhamurda
7) Sanskrit	Kukkuradru, Kukundara, Mridu chhada, Tamrachuda
8) Tamil	Kattumullangi, Narakkarandai
9) Telugu	Advimulangi, Karupogaku

A. Blumea as Medicinal Plant

Blumea is described by Ayurveda experts as hot, pungent and bitter; antipyretic; good for bronchitis, diseases of the blood, fevers, thirst and burning sensations. The root kept in the mouth is said to cure disease of the mouth. In the Konkan region of India, the plant is used to drive away fleas and other insects. It is prescribed as an antiscorbutic in West Africa (Caius, 1986). Essential oil from Blumea has been shown analgesic, hypothermic and tranquillising activities (Anonymous, 1972). Campestrol has been isolated from aerial parts of Blumea. whereas 5-hydroxy-3, 6. 7, 3', 4'- pentamethoxy flavone, 5,3',4' trihydroxy flavone and an unidentified flavone have been isolated from leaves (Rastogi and Mahrotra. 1991). B. lacera is also a valuable Homoeopathic drug (Oudhia el at.. 1998a). According lo Homoeopathic philosophy B. lacera as Homoeo drug is useful in case of enuresis. neuralgia. headache, cold borne cough. Its mother tincture is useful in case of bleeding piles (Ghosh, 1988). Natives of Chhattisgarh use this valuable weed for treating their health problems (Oudhia, 1998b). There is a heavy demand of different parts (fresh and dry both) of this weed in national and international drug markets (Oudhia and Tripathi, 1999b). Fanners can earn extra income after selling various parts of Blumea with the help of co-operatives (Oudhia and Tripalhi, 1999c). Fresh leaves of Blumea are the most valuable part.

B. Stimulatory Allelopathic Effects of Blumea on Agricultural Crops

Stimulatory allelopathy of B. lacera on many agricultural crops like rice. wheat, linseed, kodo, soybean, mustard, chickpea, etc. has been reported. When chickpea (Var. JG-74) seeds were soaked for 24 h in aqueous extracts (1:10 w/v) of different parts of Blumea, no detrimental effects on chickpea were noted, whereas root extract of 264 h was found promising extract and resulted in higher shoot and root elongation (Oudhia el al., 1997a). In case of wheat (var. Sujata), stem extract of 216 h (Oudhia et al., 1997b), rice (var. Mahamaya) and mustard (var. Varuna), leaf extract of 216 h (Oudhia et al.. 1998c,d) were found promising extracts. These extracts can be utilized for pre-sowing soaking treatment of crop seeds. These studies showed that there was a tremendous scope of utilizing the allelopathic potential of this weed for agricultural crop production.

Allelopathic effects of B. lacera on rabi and kharif obnoxious weeds like Echinocloa colonum, Eclipta alba, Setaria glauaca, Cynodon dactylon. Ageratum conyzoides (Oudhia et al.. 1998c), Chenopodium album, Melilotus indica, Phalaris minor, Cirsium arvense. Spilanthes pyrethrum (Oudhia et al.. 1997a) have also been reported.

References

Anonymous. 1973. Phytochemistry II : 1855.
Caius, J F.. 1986. In : The Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Indian. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, India p. 323-325.
Ghosh. N. C. 1988. In : Comparative Materia Medica Hannemann Publ. Company Pvt. Ltd., Calcutta, India p. 871.
Lefroy. H. M., 1909. In : Indian Insect Life. Today's and Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers. New Delhi pp. 318
Oudhia. P. 1996. Allelopathic effects of selected weeds on crops. M.Sc. (Ag.) thesis, IGAU, Raipur. p. 250.
Oudhia, P., 1997. Evaluation of host specificity of Blumea leaf beetle (Chrysolina sp. nr. madrasae Jackoby). Insect Environment 3:80.
Oudhia. P. and R. S. Tripalhi, 1999a. Medicinal weeds of Raipur and Durg (Madhya Pradesh) region. Proc. National Conference on Health Care and Development of Herbal Medicines, IGAU, Raipur. pp. 71-78.
Oudhia. P. and R. S. Tripathi, 1999b. Medicinal weeds : A boon for the farmers of Chhattisgarh. Abstract. Eighth Biennial Conference of Indian Society of Weed Science, BHU. Varanasi 5-7 Feb. p. 152.
Oudhia. P. and R. S. Tripathi, 1999c. Scope of cultivation of important medicinal plants in Chhattisgarh plains. Proc. National Conference on Health Care and Development of Herbal Medicines. IGAU, Raipur. pp. 215-222.
Oudhia. P.. B. S. Joshi and V. K. Koshta. 1998a. Chhattisgarh ke kleshkarak kharptwaron se homoeopathic dava nirman ki sambhavnayain (The possibilities of preparing homoeopathic drugs from obnoxious weeds of Chhattisgarh). Abstract V. National Science Conference. Bhartiya Krishi Anusandhan Samittee, JNKVV, Gwalior p. 44.
Oudhia, P.,R. S. Tripalhi and N. Pandey, 1998b. The possibilities of utilization of medicinal weeds to increase the income of the farmers. Abstract National Seminar on Medicinal Plant Resources Development, Gujarat Ayurved University and Govt. of Gujarat. Gandhi Labour Institute, Ahmedabad, 4-5 Oct. p. 3.
Oudhia. P.. S. S. Kolhe and R. S. Tripathi. 1997a. Allelopathic effect of Blumea lacera L. on chickpea and rabi weeds. Agric. Sci. Digest 17 : 275-278.
Oudhia, P.. S. S. Kolhe and R. S. Tripathi. 1997b. Allelopathic effect of Blumea lacera L. on wheat. Indian J. Weed Sci. 29:4-7.
Oudhia, P., S. S. Kolhe and R. S. Tripalhi, 1998c. Allelopathic effect of Blumea lacera L. on rice and common kharif weeds. 007035:175-177.
Oudhia. P.. S. S. Kolhe and R. S. Tripalhi, 1998d. Germination and seedling vigour of mustard as affected by allelopathy of Blumea lacera L. Agric.. Sci. Digest 18:183-186.
Rastogi. R. P. and B. N. Mehrotra. 1991. Compendium of Indian Medicinal Plants, Vol. II. Pbl. CDRI, Lucknow and P & I Directorate, New Delhi, p. 102.

[Originally published in Indian J. Weed Sci. 31 (1&2) : 108-109 ) (1999)]