An annual herbaceous plant from the Compositae family. The stem is branched, grayish-green, short-hairy hairy, 20-80 cm high. The leaves are heart-shaped at the base, three-lobed in front, incised-toothed. Flowers form monoecious and unisexual heads, twisted in the corners of the leaves with spikelets. Male heads are multi-flowered, female heads are 2-flowered. Blooms from June to August. An annual pernicious weed.
It grows in weedy places, within housing and roads.
For therapeutic purposes, leafy tops of a flowering plant, seeds and roots are used. The tops, where the leaves begin, are cut off during flowering, the seeds – as they ripen, the roots – in the fall.
In folk medicine, a decoction of seeds and roots is used in the treatment of dysentery, scrofula, bladder diseases, a decoction of the whole plant is used as a remedy for goiter, as a diaphoretic, antipyretic and sedative. It is prescribed for rheumatism and colds. The whole plant is brewed and drunk as a tea for cancer. Fresh grass juice is used to treat malignant tumors, goiter, tonsillitis, scrofula, lichen, eczema.
The fruits and seeds are prescribed for eczema and itching dermatoses, for insect bites and for the treatment of paralysis, and a thick extract obtained by gradually evaporating an aqueous decoction of the leaves is used to treat leprosy patients; successfully used to treat diseases of the thyroid gland (st. Spoon of herbs in a glass of boiling water, boil for 10 minutes, take a glass 3 times every day).
Application
See Cocklebur prickly.