Elephantopus scaber

Elephantopus scaber L., Asteraceae, is a rather inconspicuous herb growing among grasses, in the hotter parts of the India, particularly the mountain terrain, such as the Western and Eastern Ghats. The plants bear a rosette of basal leaves and the small pink florets are borne on long stalks (Elephantopus scaber1).

The plant is an astringent, cardiac tonic, alterative and febrifuge. Alcoholic extract is antimicrobial. The roots yield a mucilaginous decoction used as an emollient in dysuria, diarrhoea, dysentery and swelling and pain of the stomach. Roots also arrest vomiting. Powdered with pepper, the roots are a good remedy against toothache. Leaves boiled in coconut oil are used on eczema and ulcers.

The leaves contain a lectin that preferentially agglutinates human B group erythrocytes, an uncommon feature.