CanchalaguaSchkuhria pinnata

Did you know?

• The genus Schkuhria is named for Christian Schkuhr (1741 to 1811), a German botanist^[2].

• English speakers sometimes call canchalagua dwarf marigold or dwarf Mexican marigold, although it is not a true marigold^[7].

• Its flower heads are tiny. Each one usually carries just one or two small yellow ray florets around a handful of disc florets^[2].

• In Mexico, where it is called anisillo, the plant is used to make brooms, and in Ecuador one of its names is escobilla, "little broom"^{[7, 8]}.

• "Canchalagua" names more than one plant. In California, for example, it is the Spanish name of California centaury (Zeltnera venusta), a wildflower once classed as a Centaurium^[9].

• Far from its native range, botanists in Spain recorded canchalagua as new to the flora of Extremadura in 2009^{[1, 4]}.

Origins and history

Canchalagua is a slender annual of the daisy family, usually under 2 feet (60 cm) tall, with branching stems and finely divided, feathery leaves^{[2, 8]}. Its many small yellow flower heads sit in loose, airy clusters at the tips of the stems^{[2, 8]}. It is at home in seasonally dry country, from the grasslands and scrub of Mexico to the mountains of the Andes^{[1, 8]}, and it grows high: up to about 2,700 meters in the Valley of Mexico and 3,300 meters in Colombia^{[1, 8]}. Its native range runs through Mexico and Central America to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, and on to Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and central Chile^{[1, 2]}.

The French naturalist Lamarck first described the plant under the name Pectis pinnata^{[1, 6]}. It was later moved to the genus Schkuhria^{[1, 2]}. The name in use today was published in 1912 in a short German paper titled "A new adventive Schkuhria", adventive being the botanist's word for a plant newly arrived from somewhere else^{[1, 10]}. That title proved a sign of things to come. Canchalagua has since settled far from home, on roadsides, fields and farmland in southern Africa and in parts of Europe^{[1, 3, 4]}.

In Peru and across the Andes the plant is called canchalagua^{[5, 6]}, and it is still valued there today^{[5, 6]}. English speakers know it as dwarf marigold^[7]. The Spanish name is not unique to this plant: in California it belongs to California centaury, a quite different wildflower^[9]. That is one reason the Latin name, Schkuhria pinnata, is the surest way to know which plant you have.

Traditional uses

Clinical studies of canchalagua in people are still few, but its traditional use in the Andes is long-standing and continues today^{[5, 6]}.

• A simple herbal tea

  Canchalagua is traditionally taken as an infusion: the herb is steeped in hot water, strained and drunk as a tea.^[5]

• Clear-looking skin

  In Peru, canchalagua is best known for its tradition of use for the skin. Canchalagua supports clear-looking skin.*^{[5, 6]}

• Antioxidant compounds

  Canchalagua provides naturally occurring antioxidant compounds.*^{[3, 11]}

Plant compounds

Canchalagua's best-studied plant compounds are sesquiterpene lactones. Chemists have isolated a whole series of them from the plant^{[11, 12, 13]}. Extracts of the herb also contain antioxidant compounds^{[3, 11]}.