Description
An erect weedy herb with small white-and-yellow flower heads and barbed, black, needle-like seeds that cling to clothing and fur.
Medicinal Uses
Widely used in African folk medicine for diarrhoea, malaria, wounds, fungal infections, and inflammation; young leaves are also dried for herbal tea.
Food Uses
Young shoots and leaves are cooked and eaten as a vegetable in parts of Africa.
Cultivation
A fast-spreading annual weed of farmland, roadsides, and waste ground worldwide.
