Yerba porosa
Porophyllum ruderale
Synonyms: Porophyllum ellipticum var. ruderale, Cacalia ruderalis, Kleinia ruderalis
Western Herbalism Properties
Gallery
Botanical Description
Porophyllum ruderale, known as yerba porosa, papalo, or quilquina, is an erect annual herb of the family Asteraceae, native to the tropical and subtropical Americas from the southern United States south to Argentina. Plants reach 50 to 150 centimetres in height with slender, smooth, somewhat glaucous, branching stems often tinged purplish. The leaves are alternate or sub-opposite, oblong-ovate to elliptic, 2 to 6 centimetres long, with entire margins and a distinctive series of conspicuous translucent oil glands dotting the lamina (especially along the margins). Crushed leaves release a strong, pungent aroma reminiscent of cilantro mixed with rue or arugula. Flower heads are slender and discoid, lacking rays, borne on long peduncles at the stem tips; each head consists of about ten greenish to purplish tubular disc florets enclosed by a single row of narrow involucral bracts. Fruits are slender black cypselae with a long bristly pappus.
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