Lactuca serriola - Kahu

Lactuca serriola, prickly lettuce

Lactuca serriola, also called prickly lettuce, milk thistle (not to be confused with Silybum marianum, also called milk thistle) compass plant, and scarole is an annual or biennial plant in the dandelion tribe within the daisy family. It has a slightly fetid odor and is commonly considered a weed of orchards, roadsides and field crops.

Lactuca serriola is known as the compass plant because in the Sun the upper leaves twist round to hold their margins upright.

Uses

Wounds, Cuts, Snakebites, Curing liver disorders, Skin eruptions, Blotches, Pimples, Diarrhea, Sore throats

Parts Used

Dried Folaige, Whole herb.

Chemical Composition

Contains volatile oils, flavonoids, apigenin, luteolin, quercetin, kaempferol, tiliroside, triterpene glycosides including euscapic acid and tormentic acid, phenolic acids, and 3%–21% tannins

Common names

Language	Common name
Kannada
Hindi
Malayalam
Tamil
Telugu
Marathi	NA
Gujarathi	NA
Punjabi	NA
Kashmiri	NA
Sanskrit
English	Agrimony

Properties

Reference: Dravya - Substance, Rasa - Taste, Guna - Qualities, Veerya - Potency, Vipaka - Post-digesion effect, Karma - Pharmacological activity, Prabhava - Therepeutics.

Habit

Herb

Identification

Leaf

Kind	Shape	Feature
Simple		The leaves are divided into 3-6 toothed leaflets, with smaller leaflets in between

Flower

Type	Size	Color and composition	Stamen	More information
Unisexual	2-4cm long	Yellow	5-20	Flowers Season is June - August

Fruit

Type	Size	Mass	Appearance	Seeds	More information
	7–10 mm (0.28–0.4 in.) long pome	clearly grooved lengthwise, Lowest hooked hairs aligned towards crown	With hooked hairs		{{{6}}}

List of Ayurvedic medicine in which the herb is used

• Vishatinduka Taila as root juice extract

Mode of Propagation

Seeds, Cuttings.

How to plant/cultivate

Easily grown in most soils, preferring a calcareous soil. Thrives in a dry lightly shaded position, though it prefers full sun.Plants usually self-sow quite freely when growing in a suitable position. The seeds are contained in burrs that can easily attach themselves to clothing or animal's fur, thus transporting them to a new area where they can germinate and grow.The cultivar 'Sweet scented' is popular in France for making tea because the whole plant is sweet scented and the flowers have a spicy apricot-like fragrance

Commonly seen growing in areas

Tall grasslands, meadows, Borders of forests and fields.

Photo Gallery

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