Emilia coccinea is a fast-growing, annual tropical herb with tassel-like, vibrant red flowers. It thrives in disturbed areas, gardens, and open savannah-like habitats, preferring full sun and well-drained soils.
Scarlet tassel flower (Emilia coccinea, family Asteraceae) is an erect annual herb 20 to 100 cm tall, with few or no branches. It carries small, tassel-like flower heads of scarlet to orange at the top of slender stems. Its young leaves are eaten raw or cooked, often with other vegetables. It is pollinated by insects and is also grown as an ornamental.
It is a conspicuous weed of roadsides, waste places and especially old farmland, from sea level to 2,000 metres. It grows readily from seed. Outside Africa it has escaped from gardens and become invasive in some Pacific islands.
Source: Useful Tropical Plants database (Fern, K.).
Widely employed in traditional medicine across Africa, India, and Southeast Asia:
External Treatments: Wounds, abscesses of the breast, sores, skin infections (craw-craw), yaws, ringworm.
Internal Treatments: Coughs, rheumatism, fever, asthma, jaundice, and dysentery.
Eye & Ear Care: Fresh leaf juice treats eye inflammations, night blindness, and earaches.
Reproductive & Children’s Health: Preventing miscarriages, treating syphilis, and convulsions in children.
Pharmacological Properties: Anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial (S. aureus, E. coli), analgesic, anti-diabetic, wound-healing.
Caution: Contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which are hepatotoxic. Use should be moderated.
Vegetable: Young leaves are edible and used as a leafy vegetable in Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, and parts of Nigeria.
Preparation: Chopped and cooked alone or with pulses (peas, beans), or added to sauces.
Taste: Can be bitter, limiting widespread culinary use.
Love Charm: Leaves used in ritualized charms in parts of Southern Nigeria.
Medicinal Magic: Mixed with materials such as copper filings for wound treatment.
Ceremonial Washing: Leaf decoctions used in baths for newborns to protect against illness (e.g., Sierra Leone).
Spiritual Protection: Used to treat excessive crying or convulsions in infants, interpreted as spiritual disturbances.
Seed Propagation: Small seeds sown directly in the ground or in greenhouse trays; require light for germination.
Vegetative Propagation: Stem cuttings can be used during the growing season.
Division: Established plants can be divided in spring or autumn.
Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soils; often found in gardens, disturbed areas, and savannah edges.