I have tried everywhere around me without success. It appears to be of the Cirsium genus. It is a weed that starts growing at the peak of the rainy season around here (West-Central Africa, Guinea Savannah.) I collected samples of the plant around november last year but I can not Identify it. I have attached the image of the plant.
If a chemical and DNA analyses are carried out, it may be found out to which family it belongs to and whether it has medicinal properties or not. Other way is to explore traditional-knowledge of locals. It is highly useful in ethnobotany and ethnomedicine.
In Aligarh Muslim University, a technician used to be who can tell on seeing a plant in field or its picture to which taxon it belongs to. He is no more.
If I could only narrow it down to the Genus. I also zeroed on Blumea lacera after sifting through gigabytes of google images. http://sambodhihealingcenter.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/blumea-tincture-is-useful-in-case-of-bleeding-piles-%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8C%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A7%E0%A4%BE/
Mr. Anyam,
If you haven't tried local herbarias in universities near your community, it can be worth a try. It would be good too if you can contact a taxonomist or someone who specializes in plant systematics. It would be very appropriate for you to get a certificate of identification for your plant, signed by a plant taxonomist specially when your plant is not well known in botanical literature.
If all the local resources and contacts are not able to identify your plant of interest you can resort to sending plant specimens to other universities within your country or you may even send your specimen abroad. If all other local means are exhausted, you can send specimens to countries that have a large database and library of specifically identified plants.
On the extreme scenario, in case you really need to identify the plant, you may send a specimen to the Kew Gardens in London, UK. The Kew Gardens is a leading institution in the world when it comes to plant taxonomy and plant systematics. The Kew Gardens has a collection of preserved plant specimens coming from countries around the world.The Kew Gardens also specializes in plant genomics so you can be sure that they can identify your plant to the species level by analyzing the genetic material of your plant specimen. Of course, you have to consider the expenses for sending samples abroad. And in case you decide to send samples abroad, you must follow proper protocols for preserving, packaging and documentation (include: sampling site, sampling date, habit, age and other descriptions) of your plant specimen to make sure that it is in good condition upon delivery and that any ambiguity in identification of the plant can be avoided.
Good luck.
I see someone noting answers with negative votes. It would be great to understand the objection to the substance of the comments so that they may be addressed and ameliorated by the author when possible. I've balanced it evenly.
Mr Zakariya Muripaga ,
Yes I have tried herbaria around me. The demon here is the weed is a common one and I took it for granted that it could be quite easily identified. I will try further afield as you suggested. Thank you for your time.
Anyam, You may come to the herbarium in the Dept. of BIOL. ABU, Zaria. if you have any problems, you can look for me in the dept.
Dear John Anyam
The posted plant does not belongs to genus Cirsium, rather it looks some species of Blumea of family Asteraceae. Please confirm the species from regional flora.
Good luck!
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