Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Asthma weed (Euphorbia hirta), of the Euphorbiaceae family. Hairy prostrate-to-ascending annual with reddish stems and clustered flower-cups in the leaf axils; native range: Tropical Asia (probably the Indian subcontinent); now a pantropical weed of roadsides and waste ground. Globally recognized as dugdhika / nagarjuni in Sanskrit, dudhi / lal dudhi in Hindi, fei yang cao (飞扬草) in Chinese, libbayn in Arabic, and pill-bearing spurge · garden spurge · snake weed in English. The part used is whole flowering plant (fresh or dried); the milky latex. Rough, hairy herb exuding an acrid white latex when torn; the taste is faintly bitter then biting, the smell green and slightly rank.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
ASTHMA WEED
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Asthma weed
- Scientific name
- Euphorbia hirta L.
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae
Form
- Part used
- whole flowering plant (fresh or dried); the milky latex
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- pungent · sour
- Ayurveda
- pungent · bitter (katu, tikta)
- Western
- acrid · bitter
- Unani
- pungent · bitter
Temperature
- TCM
- cool
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
- Unani
- hot & dry (2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Lung · Large Intestine
- Western
- lungs · intestines · skin
- Unani
- lungs · intestines
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- clears heat and resolves toxicity, drains damp-heat, cools the blood and stops itching; kills parasites
- Ayurveda
- kasa-shwasa-hara (relieves cough and wheezing), stanyajanana (promotes milk), krimighna (anthelmintic), kapha-vata-hara
- Western
- antispasmodic, expectorant and mildly relaxant to the bronchi; antidysenteric and anthelmintic
- Unani
- kaasir-e-riyah (carminative), munaffis-e-balgham (expectorant); relieves cough and dysentery and increases milk
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pregnancy and lactation in medicinal dose; large doses provoke nausea and vomiting
- Toxicity
- the fresh latex is acrid and can irritate skin, eyes and gut; overdose is emetic and purgative
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