Blumea lacera

Blumea lacera, known as kakronda or kukronda, is an aromatic annual herb of the daisy family (Asteraceae) common as a weed across India and much of tropical Asia, extending into South-East Asia. It grows up to roughly a metre tall on erect, branched, softly hairy stems and emits a strong camphor- or turpentine-like odour when bruised. The alternate leaves are obovate to oblanceolate with toothed margins, woolly-hairy and often clasping the stem. Numerous small yellow flower-heads, lacking conspicuous ray florets, are arranged in branched panicle-like clusters; each head contains slender disc florets that mature into tiny ribbed achenes topped with a white pappus of fine bristles for wind dispersal. A plant of waste ground, fallow fields, roadsides and moist disturbed places, it flowers and fruits chiefly in the cool dry season and is widely gathered from the wild for medicinal use.