''Eupatorium cannabinum'', commonly known as hemp-agrimony, or holy rope, is a

herbaceous plant Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition o ...

in the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

. It is a robust

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

native to Europe, NW. Africa, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, the Caucasus and Central Asia.Kew Plants of the World Online https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:205581-1 Retrieved at 12.31 on Friday 13/1/23.Altervista Flora Italiana, Holy Rope, gewöhnlicher Wasserdost, hampflockel, ''Canapa acquatica''
includes photos and European distribution map"Botanica. The Illustrated AZ of over 10000 garden plants and how to cultivate them", p 359. Könemann, 2004. It is cultivated as an ornamental and occasionally found as a garden escape in scattered locations in China, the United States and Canada. It is extremely attractive to

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

, much like

buddleia ''Buddleja'' (; ''Buddleia''; also historically given as ''Buddlea'') is a genus comprising over 140 species of flowering plants endemicity, endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The generic name bestowed by Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus posthu ...

. If the genus ''

Eupatorium ''Eupatorium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, containing from 36 to 60 species depending on the classification system. Most are Herbaceous plant, herbaceous perennial plant, perennials growing to tall. A few are shrubs ...

'' is defined in a restricted sense (about 42 species), ''E. cannabinum'' is the only species of that genus native to Europe (with the remainder in Asia or North America).

Description

''Eupatorium cannabinum'' is a perennial herb up to tall or more and wide. The plant has a dark red or purplish stem, covered in small hairs. It lives in moist low-lying areas in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

. It is

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

, with

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

s of

mauve Mauve ( ; ) is a pale purple color named after the mallow flower (French: ). The first use of the word ''mauve'' as a color was in 1796–1798 according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', but its use seems to have been rare before 1859. ...

flower heads A pseudanthium (; : pseudanthia) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, composite flowers ...

which are pollinated by insects from July to early September. The flowers are visited by many types of insects, and can be characterized by a generalized

pollination syndrome Pollination syndromes are suites of flower traits that have evolved in response to natural selection imposed by different Pollination, pollen vectors, which can be abiotic (wind and water) or biotic, such as birds, bees, flies, and so forth thro ...

. The

are tiny, fluffy and can be pale dusty pink or whitish. The fruit is an

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple fruit, simple dry fruits, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and Dehi ...

about 2 or 3 mm long, borne by a pappus with hairs 3 to 5 mm long, which is distributed by the wind. The plant over-winters as a hemicryptophyte. Eupatorium cannabinum bluete.jpeg Eupatorium cannabinum0.jpg Butterflies on Hemp Agrimony - geograph.org.uk - 1281656.jpg Eupatorium cannabinum 3 RF.jpg Eupatorium cannabinum 4 RF.jpg

Toxicity

''Eupatorium cannabinum'' contains

tumorigenic Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels and abnorm ...

pyrrolizidine alkaloids Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), sometimes referred to as necine bases, are a group of naturally occurring alkaloids based on the structure of pyrrolizidine. Their use dates back centuries and is intertwined with the discovery, understanding, and ...

. The alkaloids may be present in the plant material as their N-oxides.

Pharmacology

Chemistry and use in European folk medicine

''Eupatorium cannabinum'' is used in the European

traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treatin ...

as anti-inflammatory agent for respiratory tract diseases, and several of its

sesquiterpene lactone Sesquiterpene lactones (SLs) are a class of sesquiterpenoids that contain a lactone ring. They are most often found in plants of the family Asteraceae (daisies, asters). Other plant families with SLs are Umbelliferae (celery, parsley, carrots) ...

constituents were identified to have anti-inflammatory effect in isolated human neutrophils, with the anti-inflammatory action of the sesquiterpene lactone eupatoriopicrin being verified also in mouse peritonitis model.

Use to stop bleeding in folk medicine of Sikkim

''E. cannabinum'', known locally by the Nepali names of ''Banmara'' and ''Kalijhar'', is used as a

styptic An antihemorrhagic () agent is a substance that promotes hemostasis (a process which stops bleeding). It may also be known as a hemostatic (also spelled haemostatic) agent. Antihemorrhagic agents used in medicine have various mechanisms of action: ...

in the

of the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

in the

Eastern Himalayas ] The Eastern Himalayas extend from eastern Nepal across Northeast India, Bhutan, the Tibet Autonomous Region to Yunnan in China and northern Myanmar. The climate of this region is influenced by the monsoon of South Asia from June to September. I ...

(to which the plant is not native, but an Introduced species, introduction).Rai, Lalitkumar and Sharma, Eklabyar ''Medicinal Plants of the Sikkim Himalaya: Status, Uses and Potential'', pub. Govind Ballabh Pant Inst. Bishen Singh & Mahendra Pal Singh 1994 page 39.

The leaves and tender stems are crushed fresh and the juice is applied to cuts and
bruise A bruise, also known as a contusion, is a type of hematoma of tissue, the most common cause being capillaries damaged by trauma, causing localized bleeding that extravasates into the surrounding interstitial tissues. Most bruises occur c ...
s. Sometimes, when the wound is large, the squeezed remains of the plant are placed over the wound in the form of a
poultice A poultice or cataplasm, also called a fomentation, is a soft moist mass, often heated and medicated, that is applied to the skin to reduce inflammation, soothe pain, promote healing, or otherwise treat wounds or ailments. Soft materials like cer ...
. The
bleeding Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethr ...
stops immediately and the wound is protected from
infection An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...
.

;Subspecies *''Eupatorium cannabinum'' L. subsp. ''cannabinum'' - most of species range *''Eupatorium cannabinum'' L. subsp. ''corsicum'' (Req. ex Loisel.) P.Fourn. - Corsica, Sardinia, Basilicata, Apulia

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q744339 cannabinum Plants described in 1753 Flora of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus