Tamrachura(তাম্র চূড়া ফুল) - Blumea lacera

Its a very fast growing herbaceous weed plant that grows all around the Bangladesh. Botanical name of the weed plant is Blumea lacera. It is native to Indian territory, so didn't find any suitable English name of the plant. It belongs to the plant family Asteraceae(Sunflower family).



Plant is an annual herb and grows up to several centimeters long. Stem of this plant is hairy, so does the leaf. The whole plant is having a pungent smell, specially when squeezed(leafs are thick, and produces a handful of juices if you do).



Flowers are bright yellow in color. After blooming several days prominently, the yellow spike like portion of the flower just turns into grey/white in color which just give the flower a ball shape(kind of an old man having white hairs at head). To me, this state of this flower seems more attractive than initial one. This is similar to the thistle flower. But I am not sure whether these hairy things can fly like thistle or not.



This weed plant is unwanted. But still it deserves a good name. So far I have found, its local names are Kukurmuta(কুকুর মুতা), Kukursunga(কুকুর শুঙ্গ), Jangli Muli(জংলি মুলী), etc. I am not sure why people gave such weird names!! It doesn't not have any relation with dog(so far I know). Does the sharp odor can be the reason for such nomenclature? It has a nice name in Hindi which is Tamrachura(তাম্র চূড়া ফুল).



Both the leaf and the root of this plant are having medical uses such as for fever, soothing burning, disease of mouth, and plenty of more.



Photos of this article were taken from St Martin's Island of Bangladesh. I was traveling there during January 2012.

ফুলের জন্য ভালবাসা, আমি বুনো ফুল