Common Name: Coat Buttons

General Information

Tridax procumbens is a herbaceous perennial plant with creeping stems up to 75cm long that become erect at their ends. The stems produce new roots at the leaf nodes[, ].
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine.

Known Hazards

Contact with this plant can sometimes cause skin irritation[].

Botanical References

Range

Originally from Central America, the plant has become widespread as a weed in tropical and subtropical regions.

Habitat

Sunny, dry locations, especially sandy and rocky sites like roadsides, railways, dunes, and waste places, at elevations up to 1,000 metres[].

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	0.40 m
Pollinators	Insects
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

The plant is particularly well-adapted to coarse-textured soils[].
A widespread weed, spreading freely by means of its creeping stems and prolific production of seeds that are dispersed by the wind[].
Plants can flower and produce fruit all year round[].

Edible Uses

Leaves - cooked and eaten as a vegetable[, ].

Medicinal

The leaves are antiseptic, haemostatic and parasiticide[]. They are used as a treatment against bronchial catarrh, dysentery, and diarrhoea[, ]. The leaf powder, combined with that of Cicer arietium in a 2:1 ratio, is taken orally to treat diabetes[].
A fine paste of the leaves is applied externally to reduce swelling of haemorrhoids and to stop bleeding[].The leaf sap is applied topically to sores and ulcers[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The plant has been proposed as a cover crop, but its actual use and value are questionable[].

Other Uses

The leaf juice possesses insecticidal and parasiticidal properties[]. Smoke produced by burning the plant is used to repel mosquitoes[].

The leaves are used as a hair restorative[].

Propagation

Seed -
Division.

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