Cotula anthemoides
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Cotula
Species:
C. anthemoides
Binomial name
Cotula anthemoides

Cotula anthemoides is a species of flowering plant in the Aster family that is widely distributed across Africa and southern Asia. It has also been introduced to Albania, France, and Poland.[1]

Description

The species grows across the ground, with the ends of the branches sometimes growing upright. It lacks hairs and has several branches up to 20 centimeters long. The leaves have small stalks and are a stretched oval shape, around 2–4 cm long and 1.5–3 cm wide. The capitula are roughly globe-shaped and yellow, with a diameter of 4–6 mm. Each capitulum is solitary on its own thread with stalks 4–5 cm long. The whorl of bracts below the flowers is more or less saucer shaped. The outer florets make a very small corolla, while the disc-florets are twice as long. The fruits are oval shaped and around 1 mm long, with narrow wings and a pale-brown color. The plant flowers from March to June.[2]

Taxonomy

Cotula anthemoides was first formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in Species Plantarum. Linnaeus gave the following brief description for the species:[3]

COTULA foliis pinnato-multifidis, corollis radio destitutis.
Cotula with cleftly-divided pinnate leaves, lacking ray-like petals.

Synonyms

The following synonyms are accepted according to Plants of the World Online:[1]

Name Author Year Journal
Homotypic Lancisia anthemoides (L.) Moench 1802 Suppl. Meth.
Pleiogyne anthemoides (L.) K.Koch 1843 Bot. Zeitung (Berlin)
Heterotypic Artemisia nilotica L. 1755 Cent. Pl. I
Cenia microcephala E.Mey. ex DC. 1838 Prodr.
Cotula dichrocephala Sch.Bip. ex A.Rich. 1848 Tent. Fl. Abyss.
Cotula microcephala DC. 1838 Prodr.
Nananthea tassiliensis Batt. & Trab. 1913 Bull. Soc. Bot. France
Pleiogyne cardiospermum Edgew. 1846 Trans. Linn. Soc. London
Pleiogyne microcephala K.Koch 1843 Bot. Zeitung (Berlin)

Uses

The flower heads are used in traditional medicine to treat rheumatic pain. A poultice is created by crushing the flower parts into powder and then warming them with oil.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Cotula anthemoides L. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  2. 1 2 "Cotula anthemoides in Flora of Pakistan @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  3. ↑ Linné, Carl von (1753). Species plantarum: exhibentes plantas rite cognitas ad genera relatas, cum diferentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas. Vol. 2.
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