Macledium sessiliflorum

(Harv.) S. Ortiz

Asteraceae

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(c) Bart Wursten, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant.

Africa, Benin, Burkina Faso, East Africa, Mozambique, West Africa,

Countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Comoros, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

A herb.

Medicinal Uses

The whole plant is strongly bitter and has analgesic properties. It is used as a febrifuge, particularly for treating children. A decoction of the roots is taken as a cough-medicine and for the treatment of stomach complaints and pains. A decoction is taken by draught to maturate hard abscesses. In some areas the root is considered to be aphrodisiac. Plant ash is rubbed into scarifications on the forehead and temples as a treatment for headache, and similarly root-ash is rubbed onto the sides and ribs in order to relieve stiffness due to unwonted effort. Ash is rubbed into scarifications on the chest, and a root-decoction is drunk, as a treatment for pneumonia. The leaf-sap and root-decoction are used in the treatment of dysentery.