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17. Vernonia zeylanica Less, in Linnaea 344. 1829. (Fig. 135)
Eupatorium zeylanicum Linn.
Sinh. Pupula; Tarn. Kappilay.
COMPOSITAE
An under-shrub with many, straggling, divaricate, cylindrical branches, finely tomentose
when young; leaves simple, alternate, 3—8.5 cm long, 1.7—3.5 cm broad, fiddle-shaped,
auriculate at base, obtuse or subacute at apex, strongly crenate and undulate, finely tomentose
above, white with fine wool beneath, rather thick and stiff, venation reticulate, pellucid, prominent
beneath, petioles short, tomentose; flower heads small, numerous, very shortly stalked, often
in 2—4, cymes large, lax, irregularly corymbose; involucre bracts 1.5—2.5 mm long, oblongoval,
apiculate, closely imbricate, slightly fioccose pubescent; flowers all tubular, bisexual, very
pale violet, 6—8 to a head, wide spreading, the corolla being curved outwards, pappus of hairs
erect, more or less in the centre of the head; sepals reduced to hairy bristles almost as long as
the corolla-tube; petals fused into a tube, 3.5—4 mm long, lobes linear or triangular about
1.5 mm long, acute, spreading at the tips; stamens 5, fused to corolla-tube, filaments free, anthers
fused into a tube round the style, anther cells acute, not tailed; ovary inferior, 1.5 mm long,
hairy, unilocular with a basal ovule,style 6 mm long,arms subulate, hairy outside; fruit a faintly
5-ribbed pubescent achene with a yellowish-white pappus, the outer row being scanty
and extremely short.
Flowers during March, September and October.
Illustration. Burmann, Thes. Zcyl. pi. 21. 1737.
Distribution. An endemic shrub which is very common in both the moist and dry regions
of the low-country.
Ceylon. Central Prov., Peradeniya, Bof. Card., cultivated, Jayaweera 921, May 1952.
Uses. Used in fractures as it promotes the fusion of bones. The leaves ground into a
paste and applied on boils promote suppuration. Toasted with turmeric, they are applied
for eczema of the legs with beneficial results. Internally, the juice of the leaves is used for treatment
of asthma. It is also a useful emetic, particularly in cases of food poisoning.
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