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Ageratum conyzoides
Also called Billygoat Weed, Billy Goat Weed, White Cap, Billygoat Plant, Bluebonnet, Bluetop, Goatweed
Tropical whiteweed is a fast-growing annual herb, often a weed in disturbed ground, with fluffy white to mauve flower heads. It is grown mainly for traditional medicine and is invasive in many warm regions, so it is rarely cultivated as an ornamental.
Ageratum conyzoides (billygoat-weed, chick weed, goatweed, whiteweed, mentrasto) is native to Tropical America, especially Brazil, and is an invasive weed in many other regions. It is an herb that is 0.5–1 m. high, with ovate leaves 2–6 cm long, and flowers are white to mauve.
In Vietnamese, the plant is called cứt lợn (meaning "pig feces") due to its growth in dirty areas.
Ingesting A. conyzoides can cause liver lesions and tumors. There was a mass poisoning incident in Ethiopia as a result of contamination of grain with A. conyzoides. The plant contains the pyrrolizidine alkaloids lycopsamine and echinatine.
As a medicinal plant, Ageratum conyzoides is widely used by many traditional cultures against dysentery and diarrhea. It is also an insecticide and nematicide.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ageratum conyzoides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
