Achyranthes aspera L.

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 3

Achyranthes aspera L.

Names.

Myanmar: kyet-mauk-pyan, kyet-mauk-sue-pyan, naukpo. English: devil’s horsewhip, prickly chaff.

Range.

China, Taiwan, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sikkim, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. In Myanmar, found in Magway and Yangon.

Uses.

Leaf, Flowering Spike, Seed: Used as an emetic and antiasthmatic.

Notes.

The medicinal uses of this species in India are discussed in Jain and DeFilipps (1991) as follows: The whole plant is used for cough; an infusion of the leaf in alcohol is used for leucoderma; leaf also used as an antidote for snakebite. The seed is emetic for hydrophobia. The root (applied with the roots of Heteropogon contortus ) is used for caries of teeth, atrophy, emaciation, cachexy (mixed with roots of three other species); rheumatism (ground with roots of Solanum surattense and pills of this mixture smoked), strangulation of the intestine (ground with the roots of Randia uliginosa , betel ( Piper betle ) leaf and catechu, mixed with spirit, and administered); scabies (with other ingredients); syphilis sores (cooked with in oil with fruit of Datura and applied); childbirth complaints (ground with flowers of Artocarpus heterophyllus ); tiger and snakebite; diuretic; abortifcient, stops bleeding after abortion; bark of root use for malarial fever.

Reference.

Nordal (1963).