Health: Ageratum, anti-cancer medicinal plant

The amazing Ageratum is an exotic invasive plant. It is found in almost every country on road sides, croplands and orchards as a weed and even in gardens

Health beneficial attributes of the Ageratum Plant:

• Extracts of the plant have been reported to have anti cancer properties.
• Billy goat weed has been reported as the only plant useful in treating HIV/AIDS. It is also used in a rare fatal disease called Sleeping sickness or Trypanosomiasis caused by Trypanosoma Brucei in South Africa.
• Its leaves are burnt to produce smoke as it is a good source of mosquito repellent.
• The paste or juice of fresh leaves is applied on cuts and wounds to stop bleeding instantly.
• Ageratum Conyzoides extract has been pharmacologically proved to have a radio-protective property by helping in scavenging of reactive oxygen species induced by ionising radiation.
• In traditional medicines it is used in the treatment of various diseases like diabetes, hepatitis, eczema, epilepsy etc.
• Ethnobotanical study revealed the use of its leaves in snakebites.
• The root juice is reported to be antidysentric.
• It has been proved to be useful as a successful substrate(nutrient medium for bacteria culture) for oyster mushroom cultivation and can significantly increase the protein content with reduction in production time.
• It has been found that the leaves are used by tribal in anthrax which is a bacterial disease found both in humans and animals.

However, some drawbacks have also been reported. Research suggests that it is an allelopathic plant, which releases some phytotoxins ( any toxin derived from  a plant) in the soil and affects the soils microbial fauna and also checks the growth of its associated native plant species. It spreads very fast as it produces a large number of seeds, which are readily transported, viable for a long period and germinate easily. Because of these properties, it has been considered as an exotic invasive weed and a great threat to the native flora throughout the world.

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