SCIENTIFIC NAME: Parthenium integrifolium
COMMON NAME: Wild Quinine, American Feverfew, Eastern Feverfew, Prairie-Dock, Cutting-Almond, Nephritic Plant
BLOOM TIME: June, July, Aug, Sept
PLANT PROFILE:
- Plants can grow 2 to 3 ft. tall.
- Flowers & seed heads resemble cauliflower or roses.
- Native Americans used the mashed leaves to treat burns.
- Native Americans also made tea for cough, colds, ear infections, sore throats, fevers, & infections.
- Tea from the boiled roots was used to treat dysentery & malaria in WWI when tropical supplies of quinine from the bark of the Cinchona tree where cut off.
- Leaves are sandpapery to touch & have a bitter taste.
INSECT/ANIMAL INTERACTIONS:
- Mammalian herbivores appear to ignore this plant as a food source because the leaves are sandpapery in texture & bitter-tasting.
- Flowers attract bees, wasps, flies, beetles, & plant bugs.