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Licorice Weed
Scoparia dulcis
Scoparia dulcis is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family. Common names include licorice weed, goatweed, scoparia-weed and sweet-broom in English, tapeiçava, tapixaba, and vassourinha in Portuguese, escobillo in Spanish, and tipychä kuratu in Guarani. It is native to the Neotropics but it can be found throughout the tropical and subtropical world.
Although S. dulcis is considered a weed in many parts of India and Bangladesh, its use in traditional medicine has led to overexploitation. The plant is also found as a weed in American citrus groves.
From the article Scoparia dulcis on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
S. dulcis may reach between 30 and 80 centimeters (approximately 12 to 31 inches) in height. Leaves are oppositely arranged and 1 to 3 centimeters long. Flowers are axillary.
In medicine
As a traditional medicine, S. dulcis has been used for diabetes in India and hypertension in Taiwan. In Siddha medicine it is used for treatment of kidney stones, but it needs rigorous diet method. It is called kallurukki (stone melter) in Malayalam and Tamil. In Brazil, it has been used for various problems such as hemorrhoids and wounds. S. dulcis was also used in traditional medicine in Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, Surinam, Bolivia, Argentina, and El Salvador.
Wikipedia: “Traditional medicine”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Scoparia dulcis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 317963.