Botanical Name Plant's Common Name Plant Family   

   MH329 : Sphaeranthus africanus L.

Plant Category : Herbs

Melghat's Flora's Serial No. : -

Synonym : Sphaeranthus africanus var. africanus.; Sphaeranthus africanus var. suberiflorus (Hayata) Yamam.; Sphaeranthus alatus Blanco.; Sphaeranthus cochinchinensis Lour.; Sphaeranthus glaber DC.; Sphaeranthus hildebrandtii Baker.; Sphaeranthus microcephalus Vatke.; Sphaeranthus microcephalus Willd.; Sphaeranthus ovalis Steetz.; Sphaeranthus sphenocleoides Oliv. & Hiern.; Sphaeranthus suberiflorus Hayata.;

Plant Common Name : African Globe Thistle, Mundi

Plant Family : Asteraceae / Compositae

Description : Glandular viscid herbs up to 30-40 cm tall. Stem with continuous wings. Herbs, erect, stout, aromatic, glabrous; stems upto 75 cm high, winged; wings entire, branches many, divaricate. Leaves narrowly obovate or elliptic, narrowed to the base, obtuse to subacute, sometimes acute, decurrent, forming the wings, subentire to minutely dentate, finely toothed, 1.5-10 x 0.5-3.0 cm, pubescent, glandular. Heads purple or white, globose, on long winged peduncle, 0.5-1.0 cm across. Receptacle orbicular to oblong. Involucral bracts linear to lanceolate, obovate, spathulate; upper ones rounded at apex; lower ones acute to acuminate, 0.3-0.4 cm long. Outer female florets 15-40, 0.2-0.3 cm long; corolla broadly cylindric, obovoid or ovoid. Bisexual florets 1-3, 0.25-0.3 cm long; corolla infundibuliform with a constriction in the middle. Achenes angled, upto 1.2 mm long, glandular.

Plant Location in Melghat : Sipna river bed, Kolkaz

Medicinal Use / Activity : In Ayurveda, the plant is believed to pacify vitiated vata, pitta epilepsy, migraine, jaundice, fever, cough, hemorrhoids, helminthiasis, skin diseases and as nervine tonic.

Plant's Phytochemicals : COMPOUNDS: Carvotanacetone 1; Carvotanacetone 2; Carvotanacetone 3A; Carvotanacetone 3B; chrysosplenol D; squalene; spinasterol; stigmasterol;

ACTIVE COMPOUNDS (4):

Stigmasterol;

Squalene;

Squalene;

Spinasterol;

Plant's Current Status : Red List Category - Least Concern

Plant's Cross Database Reference : 259142

Reference : Londhe, A.N., Watve, A.V. & Ansari, M.Y. 2002. “Additions to the flora of Melghat Tiger Reserve”. J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 26: 385 to 395 - https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/228345 - https://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/African%20Globe%20Thistle.html - http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/gcc_141808 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19670157 - https://plants.jstor.org/compilation/Sphaeranthus.africanus - https://www.gbif.org/species/7729020

Reference : ~ Londhe AN, Watve AV and Ansari MY; "Additions to the flora of Melghat Tiger Reserve"; J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. (2002); 26(2): 385-395 PMID :

Kingdom : Plantae - Plants
Phylum : Tracheophyta
Subkingdom : Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision : Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division : Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class : Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass :
Order : Asterales
Family : Asteraceae / Compositae - Aster family
Genus : Sphaeranthus
Species : Sphaeranthus africanus L.

Sphaeranthus africanus L.
Sphaeranthus africanus L.
Sphaeranthus africanus L.