INTRODUCTION

TO COMPOSITAE
FAMILY

FATHIMATH ASHFINA
BHMS(second year)
INTRODUCTION
 Largest plant family on earth.
 Large widespread family of flowering plants(angiosperms)
 The family has got 23600 currently accepted
species,1620 genera and 13 sub families.
 ‘compositae’ is an older but still valid name due to its
composite flowers.
 OTHER NAMES
1. Asteracae(aster,Greek word,means star) due to star
like infloroscence.
2. Sunflower family:react strongly to sunflowers because
they open as soon as sun appears.
3. Daisy family
 Biggest family of our Materia Medica.
 60 remedies mentioned in Materia Medica.
 For better understanding,divided into 7
groups.
CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom Plantae
Sub kingdom Tracheobionta(vascular
plants)
Super division Spermophyta(seed plants)
Division Angiosperm(flowering plants)
Class Magnoliopsida(dicotyledons)
Sub class Asteridae
Order Asteracles
Family Asteraceae
DISTRIBUTION
 Flowers:cosmopolitan distribution.
 Found everywhere except Antarctica and extreme Arctic.
 Numerous in tropic and sub tropic regions.

MORPHOLOGY
 Include trees,shrubs,herbs and vines
 HABITAT:Grow on open places and seldom in [Link] biennial or
annual.
 STEM:Naturally woody substance is [Link] never exceeds more
than 5 feet.
 LEAVES:Opposite,radical,simple or [Link] and saw like
leaves.
 FLOWERS:Most important feature.A single flower on top composed of
[Link] like structure at bottom made of modified leaves.
Flowers are arranged in disc like flower head and velvety
base.
AROMA:Strong aromatic odour either pleasant or
[Link] having odour is generally bitter in taste.
SIGNIFICANCE
 Economical important family,products like
cooking oils,lettuce,sunflower seeds etc.
 Horticultural importance,pot marigold,various
daisies,dahlias,calendula officinalis etc.
 Herbal medicine,Grindelia,yarrow and others.
 In folk medicine,for shock,traumas,bruises,liver
and blood dyscrasia,nervous
conditions,spasms,respiratory catarrah,sepsis
and worms.
GENERAL FEATURES
 Constitution:The old people with worn out
constitution,may be obese and with red
[Link] with light brown
hair,nervous,excitable [Link] of
children with marked emaciation,especially legs.
 Temperament:Irritable,nervous,hysterical,choleric
or sanguine.
 Thermal:Predominantly chilly.
 Diathesis:Scrofulous or haemorrhagic.
 Miasm:Psora,sycosis,syphilis,tubercular.
ACTIVE PRINCIPLES
 Acids  Esters
 Sugar  Starch
 Acetone  Carotene
 Alcohols  Resinoid
 Alkaloids  Epigenine
 Santonine  Glucosides
 Hydrocarbons  Ichthyo etchereol:interferes with
respiration.
AILMENTS FROM
 Shock
 Lifting  Fright
 Vexation  Wounds
 Over exertion  Masturbation
 Financial losses  Disappointment
 Falls from height  Blood poisoning
 Grief and bad news  Mechanical injuries
 Suppression of discharges  Suppression of anger
 Sexual excess and mental work  Being chilled or overheated
SPHERE OF ACTION
 Mind
 Mucous membrane
 Skin
 Blood
 Blood capillaries
 Joints
 Muscle and soft connective tissues
 Glands
 Nerves
 Brain
 Liver
 Spleen
 Kidney
 Female reproductive system
DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURE
 The plants grow in open [Link] plants react
strongly to the sun,the flowers open as the sun
[Link] of the patients are chilly and aggravated
by cold(Cina,Calendula,Carduus,Euphrasia)
 Have odour but bitter in [Link] they are
irritable,frightful and angry with rage.
 At the top,there is a single [Link] the patient wants
to stay alone,wants to be the most desired [Link]
children are very peevish,malicious and
headstrong(Cina,Chamomilla,Abrotanum)
 Maximum plants are [Link] explains the
behavioural nuisance as rejected [Link] baby
cries terribly when carried as in Cina.
 All plants are characterised by strong aromatic
[Link] aggravated by strong smell.
PATHO-PHYSIOLOGY
 Have marked action upon mucous membrane causing inflammation with
exudation and [Link] on the blood,muscular fibres of the blood
vessels,it causes venous congestion and haemorrhagic tendency.
 Predominant action on liver and spleen producing aching in the liver region
with griping pain and chilliness inside the abdomen.
 General action upon the urinary system with very painful
[Link],brick red sediment in urine.
 Action on the respiratory mucus membrane,causing allergic
manifestations,dyspnoea and whooping cough,exudative processes.
 Convulsions,nerve injuries,intense pain with soreness,inflammation of
glands,indurations with congestion.
 Inflammation of muscles and soft connective tissues,sore lame bruised feeling.
 Child is very much cruel,peevish,spiteful,irritable,poor
[Link] during dentition,hysterical [Link]
infestations,nervous excitement and rheumatic [Link] to cold air.
CHARACTERISTIC MENTAL
SYMPTOMS
 Very anxious,extremely nervous,aversion to work.
 Cannot tolerate contradiction,unsatisfied all the
time.
 Kleptomania,somnambulism,irritability aggravated
by noise.
 Hysteria in females during menses.
 Fear of accidents,sees dead bodies.
 Forgetful,sensation as if forgotten something,wake
up at night to work but forgets in the morning.
CHARACTERISTIC PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
 Haemorrhagic tendency:Ecchymosis and internal
[Link] from all orifices and mucous membrane of the
[Link] of blood from edges of closed [Link] is
profuse,bright red in colour,painless fluid.
 Discharges:Acrid and [Link] symmetrical sore crops of
boils,open,torn,cut,lacerated,ragged and suppurating wounds.
 Over sensitiveness:From abuse of coffee and [Link]
dreams with restless sleep
 Marasmus:Ascending type of marasmus,wasting inspite of voracious
appetite,milky [Link] red cheeks,blue rings around eyes.
 Soreness:Sore,lame,bruised feeling of affected parts with
congestion,hard bed feeling with marked [Link]
to touch.
 Convulsions:Occur after suppression of menses and after puberty.
 Menses:Dysmenorrhoea with sensation of weight in pelvis with scanty
[Link] of colic after hard [Link] after
suppression of menses.
GENERAL MODALITIES
 Aggravation:Damp cloudy weather,touch,motion,cold
air,drinking,injury,evening,jar, night,alcohol,music and suppressed
discharges.
 Amelioration:Continued motion,lying on abdomen,better after
discharges,rest,profuse sweating,open air.

REMEDY GROUPS
• For the purpose of better understanding and on the basis of
pathogenesis,divided into:
• Convulsive group
• Injury group
• Febrile or fever group
• Cinchoriacceae group
• GIT and GUT group
• Respiratory group
• Glands group
CONVULSIVE GROUP
Produce convulsions and convulsive [Link] during the time of
dentition,after anger,during menses etc.
IMPORTANT REMEDIES
• Abrotanum
• Absinthium
• Artemisia vulgaris
• Chamomilla
• Cina maritima
• Tanacetum vulgare
GENERAL SYMPTOMS
 Convulsions with trembling,biting of
tongue,tremors,chorea,opisthotonous,giddiness.
 These are all children remedy-emaciation inspite of eating
well,worms,convulsions,emotional and temperamental oversensitivity.
 Children are cross,irritable,very touchy,ugly in
behaviour,dissatisfied,capricious,they don’t want to be touched or looked at.
 Mental irritability,nervousness,excitability,restlessness.
 Thinking difficult,loss of comprehension,weak memory
 Anxious dreams with restless sleep
 Kleptomania,somnambulism.

INJURY GROUP
Have marked action on [Link] cover pains,soreness and bruised
[Link] also have action on the blood,blood vessels and mental sphere.
IMPORTANT REMEDIES
• Achiller millefolium
• Arnica montana
• Bellis perrenis
• Calendula officinalis
• Cineraria maritima
• Echinacea angustifolia
• Erigeron canadensis
• Millefolium
GENERAL SYMPTOMS
 Bad effects of injury,recent or remote,and injury in any
form.
 Injury to muscles,connective tissue,joints,mainly
causing inflammation.
 Injured nerves produce extreme
pain,soreness,aching,bruised sensation.
 Weak and relaxed vessels of deeper organs produce
profuse haemorrhage,ecchymosis and varicose veins.
 Overuse of any organ.
 Mind:A state of fear,fright,nervousness,sleeplessness,or
nightmares after accidents,[Link] of being
approached or [Link] for nothing feeling or loss
of ambition,he does not know what to do.
FEVER GROUP
Stronly indicated in fever of many kinds.
IMPORTANT REMEDIES
• Eupatorium aromaticum
• Eupatorium perfoliatum
• Eupatorium purpureum
• Helianthus annus
• Parthenium hysterophorus
• Pyrethrum parthenium
GENERAL SYMPTOMS
 Intermittent fever with chill and perspiration
 Fever with liver and spleen complaints.
 Rheumatism and joint problems are associated with fever.
 Hot discharges with burning pain.
CICHORIACEAE GROUP
Strongly indicated for sleepiness,exhaustion and depression.
IMPORTANT REMEDIES
• Cichorium
• Lactuca virosa
• Lapsana communis
• Liatris spicata
• Taraxacum
GENERAL SYMPTOMS
 Tarax root produces sleepiness,exhaustion,feeling of [Link]
does not like work,inclination to sit at one place,so it is used as a
substitute for coffee in crude form.
 Lactuca to induce sleep and quieten nervousness.
 Some increases milk production in lactating mother.
 Main action is on GIT,liver,intestine which alters appetite,disturbs stool
and produces diarrhoea.
 Most of them cure mental and bodily exertion.
GIT AND GUT GROUP
Action over the alimentary canal,liver and spleen,indicated in
chronic diarrhoea,mal-absorption syndrome and intestinal
worms,also act on GUT.
IMPORTANT REMEDIES
• Brachyglottis repens
• Carduus Benedictus
• Carduus marianus
• Gnaphalium polycephalum
• Senecio aureus
• Solodago virgaurea
• Tussilago farfara
• Tussilago fragrans
• Tussilago petasites
GENERAL SYMPTOMS
 Affections of urogenital system producing altered menstrual
function,dysmenorrhoea,and associated urinary or rectal complaints.
 Affections of liver and portal system,gastro-intestinal disorders leading to
vomiting,colic and diarrhoea.
 Sexual irritation and complaints of puberty.

RESPIRATORY GROUP
Indicated for conditions related to the respiratory system such as
bronchitis,asthma and rhinitis,etc
IMPORTANT REMEDIES
• Ambrosia
• Grindelia robusta
• Lactuca virosa
• Silphium
• Wyethia
GENERAL SYMPTOMS
 Asthma,hay fever,smoker’s cough
 Marked action on the respiratory tract.
GLANDS GROUP
Strongly indicated in conditions such as hepatitis,constipation,urinary
disorders,prostatitis,etc.
IMPORTANT REMEDIES
• Arnica montana
• Carduus marianus
• Guaco
• Liatris spicata
• Solidago
• Taraxacum
GENERAL SYMPTOMS
Some of them acts on the glands like:
 Breast
 Prostate
 Liver and spleen
 Cancer of urinary bladder can also be well cured.
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