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Ageratum conyzoides (Asteraceae)
English: Goat weed, billy goat weed
Spanish (El Salvador): Mejorana , sunsumpate (Columbia): Yerba hemostatica
Portuguese: Mentrasto, Tropic ageratum
African vernacular names:
West Africa (Igbo): Nri-ewu (Yoruba): Imieshu , yarnigbei
Kianzi (Zaire): Nkaya bekia kwa nsey, Kikongo (Zaire): Mpota ka saku
India (Hindi): Uchunti Fidchi Islands: Botebotekoro
German: Mexikanischer Leberbalsam
The plant
The plant is widely spread over the world, especially in the tropical and subtropical regions. It
is very common in West Africa and some parts of Asia and South America. It is an annual
branching herb which grows up to 1 m in height. The stems and leaves are covered with fine
white hairs; the leaves are ovate and up to 7.5 cm long. The flowers are purple to white, less
than 6 mm across and arranged in a terminal inflorescence. The fruits are achaenes and easily
dispersed.Because of its propagation it becomes a weed and causes problems for farmers and
ecologists.It is not eaten by men because of its bad odour, like a male goat and is named goat
weed or billy goat weed.The whole plant is only used for medicinal purposes and has a long
history in the folk medicine of different countries.
Plant parts used
The whole plant, the leaves, more rarely the root
Constituents
The essential oil:
Mono- and sesquiterpenes
The oil content won by distillation varies randomly from 0.11 to 0.58 % for leaves and from
0.03 to 0.18 % for the roots depending on the seasons. From water distillation of the fresh
flowers, the oil content was 0.2 %.The fatty oil yield of the seeds extracted by petrol ether
was 26 %.An oil sample from plants collected from Nigeria brought 51 constituents analysed
by GC-MS.It included 20 monoterpenes (6.4 %) and 20 sesquiterpenes (5.1 %).The quantities
of the single substances were in the range of trace to 0.1 %. The monoterpenes (1 % of the oil)
include sabinene and beta-pinene 1.6 %, beta phellandrene...