#NotAllWeeds - Tridax Procumbens - I
- Tejaswini J
- Oct 25, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 25, 2020
Bright sunny afternoon, an almost empty road, and a beautiful view of plain tiger butterflies fluttering around is the green light for my neighbourhood butterfly walk. In my quest to find hidden gems of the macro world, I found a small castor plant that I brought home (It is the host plant of the Common Castor butterfly). It has been almost 4 months since then and I still bring random weeds home in the hopes of having my own butterfly garden.
My mom has a small garden of flowering plants and some herbs. Naturally, she wasn’t fond of me bringing roadside plants home. “Those weeds are going to spread diseases to my plants”, she would worry. But after watching an increased number of butterflies flying about and laying eggs on her plants, she is quite happy with the way her garden is sustaining the macro world. A few days ago, she sought me out and insisted I check some weeds growing in her plant pots. She wanted me to ensure those weeds weren't host plants for any insects before she pulled them out. Wow, what a change. She just made my day! Because if these weeds were noticed by her a few months ago, she would have just removed them without second thoughts.
A lot of us love to have house plants, a beautiful garden full of flowers “without weeds”. The general notion that weeds are a nuisance, prevent us from considering any merits of the plant and are attuned to weed them. ‘Not all weeds’ are invasive and/or useless and need to be removed. Several weeds that are seen growing on the roadside provide a safe haven for insects and hold a niche in the plant kingdom. Some even hold cultural and medicinal values that are beneficial to humans.
Punarnava, Purslane, Dandelions, Pennywort, Wild Amaranth, Arugampul, Keezhanelli are some of the examples of beneficial plants which crop up everywhere, considered weeds and eradicated without further consideration for it uses and purpose.
Tridax Procumbens:
Tridax Procumbens, also known as the coat button falls in the same category as well. I faintly remember coming across this name in my school textbook though not exactly sure what I read about it :P. I definitely don't remember reading the many medicinal properties of the plant.
Medicinal properties
Due to my present craze towards observing butterflies and understanding their biology, I started reading about their host plants as well. That is when I came across information on the so-called weed plant 'Tridax Procumbens'. This plant commonly known as the coat button hosts quite a number of butterfly species.
It was a quiet relief for me when I read that it is a commonly found weed. I was intrigued by the fact that a single plant was host to so many butterfly species and it drove me to pour over a variety of content in trying to figure out the plant's ecological significance. And that is when I came upon the information on the plant's medicinal properties. The plant is anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic, anti-fungal, anti-oxidant, used in treating gastrointestinal disorders, liver disease, and even in treating diseases in cattle. From treating open wounds to aiding in the treatment of diabetes, Tridax does a lot! A majority of its medicinal properties have not been tested in humans though it has been quite successful when experimented with rats.
A plant that is useful to us in so many ways, is easy to find and even grow, yet we have little to no idea about this small wonder. Several parts of the world use different parts of the plant for treating diseases. India predominantly uses leaf extracts of the plant (mixed with other herbs) to treat diarrhoea, hair loss, to heal wounds, and containing inflammation. The extract is also used to check for haemorrhage and used as an insect repellent! A study carried out in the Pachalur hills of Dindugal district revealed that the locals rely on medicinal plants for treating diseases and Tridax is recommended for the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery by their local doctors. In Africa, the entire plant is mixed with other herbs, salt, and water and is used to treat mastitis in cattle. According to a phytochemical study, the chloroform of Tridax acts as efficient as the drug ampicillin against bacteria.
On top of having immense medicinal value, the plant also hosts several species of butterflies and bees for its nectar. It plays an important role in the ecological community through interaction with pollinators, which is responsible for creating the base for life sustenance!
If you find a Tridax daisy near your home, do not weed it and if possible try to introduce it in your garden and observe an increase in visits from the winged beauties. It's therapeutic at the very least to watch your garden providing for the insect world.
Part 2 of the article coming out soon
I have written a detailed note on the ecological significance and a small insight into why Tridax has high medicinal properties in part 2 of this article!
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