Heracleum candolleanum (WT. & ARN.) GAMBLE .

Heracleum candoJleanum (Wight & Am.) Gamble

H. rigens Wall. ex DC. var. candolleanum (Wight & Am.) C.B. Clarke

APIACEAE (Umbelliferae)

 

Vernacular name: Not known

 

Threat status: Vulnerable (A 1 c) - Globally

 

Habit: Perennial herbs

 

Habitat: Exposed montane grassland slopes

 

.Altitude: 1500 - 2100 m

 

Distribution: Endemic to Western Ghats in southern India. National: Recorded in the grasslands of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Karnataka, recorded only in Bababudan hills (Chickmagalur).

 

Description: A perennial stout hairy herb, up to 2 m tall, with woody reddish brown rootstock. Stems many, radiating from the rootstock, with many vertical parallel lines. Leaves are alternately arranged and are of two different types. The lower leaves two times pinnate, egg-shaped in outline, about 35 x 25 cm; upper leaves gradually becoming smaller towards the apex, 3-5 or often irregularly lobed, egg-shaped to oblong, about 10 x 5 cm, base clasping the stem, apex acute or acuminate, margin shallowly or deeply toothed with saw-like teeth, pubescent; leaf stalks up to 15 cm long, with a broad sheath at base. Flowers polygamous, arranged in multi-branched compound umbels, yellow, minute, about 1.5 mm across, faintly fragrant. Fruits are called as mericarps (one-seeded unit of a compound fruit), elliptic to inverted egg-shaped, about 1 x 0.8 cm, dorsally compressed and laterally winged, with prominent 3-ribs, hairless.

 

Phenology: Flowering & Fruiting: April to October

 

Medicinal uses: In Kerala the tubers are reportedly used by Folk practitioners. The fruits and seeds of its related species, H. rigens, are

reportedly used in treating abdominal pain, cardiac diseases,

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constipation, cough, diarrhoea, gastritis, headache, hyperacidity,

indigestion and wounds.

 

Trade information: Seeds are locally traded

 

Mode of propagation: By root tubers and seeds

 

Special characters: Very large herbs with radiating branches, dissected foliage becoming yellow on aging, wide spreading flat compound umbels, minute white flowers and winged seeds are important field characters.

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