Celosia argentea L.

Family: Amaranthaceae

Synonym:Celosia cristata L. Celosia coccinea L.

Bengali/Vernacular name: Morogphul (Bengali), Moroghul (Noakhali).

Tribal name: Ul chang ping, Ranga chuma (Chakma); Se-ankanlingpo (Khumi); Soononbom, Kasopai (Marma); Cramui-aphru (Rakhaing); Su sang sak (Tanchangya).

English name: Cock’s comb, Quail grass.

Description of the plant: An erect, coarse, simple or branched, smooth annual herb, 0.5-1.5 m high. Leaves alternate, linear to lanceolate, entire, 4-14 cm long. Flowers, small, in dense erect spikes , 8-12 mm long, borne in solitary, erect, stout, dense, white, purple, or pink, glistening spikes, 3-30 cm long, 1.5-2 cm wide, without petals. Fruit a circumscissile capsule; seeds shining and black.

Plant parts used: Leaf, stem, flower, root, seed.

Herbal uses:Paste prepared from the leaves and stems of the plant is applied to the infected skin twice a day until the boils and snake bite is cured.

Powder or decoction made from the seeds of the plant is used to treat diarrhoea.

Decoction prepared from the flowers of the plant is used for the treatment of phthisis.

Roots of the plant are used as aremedyforcolic, gonorrhoea, and eczema.

A fresh juice extracted from the leaves and stems of the plant is taken twice a day (two tea spoons amount each time) until the irregular menstruation is cured.

Stems and leaves, bruised and applied as poultice are used for infected sores, wounds, and skin eruptions.

Decoction of the seeds with sugar is prescribed against dysentery.

Poultice of leaves, smeared with honey, used as cooling application to inflamed areas and painful affections such as buboes and abscesses.

A decoction made with the leaves and stems of the plant is taken thrice a day (100 ml amount each time) until the menopause and spermatorrhoea is cured.

Seeds of the plant are used to relieve gastrointestinal disorders, leucorrhoea, mouth sores, and fever associated with liver ailments. 

Cottonseed-sized pills made from the leaves and stems of the plant are taken twice a day (one pill each time) until the tuberculosis is cured.

An extract prepared from the leaves and stems of the plant is taken twice a day (5 ml amount each time) until the fever and itching is cured.

Distribution: It is grown in Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Dhaka, Dinajpur, Barisal, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Rajshahi in fallow lands.

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