Annual or short-lived perennial herbs; stems 4-angled and furrowed, 5-15 dm long, puberulent to glabrate. Leaves variable, lower ones broadly ovate to deltate in outline, 5-11 cm long, 4-6.5 cm wide, deeply palmately lobed, upper leaves gradually reduced in size and with fewer and smaller lobes, those of the inflorescence linear, unlobed, both surfaces puberulent, petioles 2-4 cm long. Flowers sessile, in dense verticillasters, bracteoles linear, up to ca. 7 mm long, spinose; calyx turbinate, 4-5 mm long, enlarging to 6-7 mm long in fruit, glabrous to sparsely puberulent, the teeth subulate; corolla white, pink or reddish, 10-15 mm long, puberulent, upper lobe obovate, pubescent on outer side. Nutlets brown, ellipsoid, ca. 2 mm long.

Diuretic (leaves); emmenagogue (dried flowers); antibacterial, diuretic, emmenagogue, hypotensive, ophthalmic and vasodilator (fruit); aphrodisiac, diuretic, emmenagogue, ophthalmic (seed); alterative, antibacterial, antifungal, depurative, diuretic, emmenagogue, hypotensive, vasodilator and vulnerary (aerial parts)

Plants for a Future
PIER

To relieve itching and painful shingles (leaves); in pregnancy and to help expel the placenta after giving birth (dried flowers); for abnormal menstruation, nebula and conjunctivitis (fruit); conjunctivitis and night blindness (seed); for abnormal menstruation, postpartum abdominal pain, tumours, uterine bleeding, oedema, eczema and purulent abscess (whole plant)