The catholic missionary nun sister Margareth didn’t know the name of this plant nor its effects. Still in Africa my husband bought me a book of African medicinal plants from which I managed to identify its scientific name “Euphorbia Hirta”. With this knowledge I could research into any scientific data available. (With the advent of the internet this information is more readily available to anyone wishing to research it.)
The Hirta is a member of the Euphorbia family, there are many varieties of Euphorbia throughout the world, most of them have medicinal properties but also contain toxic and poisonous elements as well, which is why there are so few Euphorbia plants used in traditional medicine. The Euphorbia Hirta is found only in tropical areas, it requires lots of sun and rain, it is non toxic, has no side effects and contains lots of medicinal properties.
