Common names include Santa-Maria, Santa Maria feverfew, whitetop weed, and famine weed. In India, it is locally known as carrot grass, congress grass or Gajar Ghans. Contact with the plant causes dermatitis and respiratory malfunction in humans, and dermatitis in cattle and domestic animals. The main substance responsible is parthenin, which is dangerously toxic. It also is responsible for bitter milk disease in livestock when their fodder is polluted with Parthenium leaves.Among other allelopathic effects of the species, the presence of Parthenium pollen grains inhibits fruit set in tomato, brinjal, beans, and a number of other crop plants.
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