An erect to ascending annual herb up to 80 cm in height, with glabrous stems and milky sap. Leaves simple, opposite, blade oblong to oblanceolate, 0.8-4 cm long, round to subacute at the tip, oblique at the base; surfaces glabrous; margins serrate; petiole 1-2 mm long. Inflorescence of short, nearly leafless axillary cymes of several cyathia, each cyathium with a tiny, glabrous, 4-lobed involucre bearing 5 glands and usually a white or pink appendage. Corolla absent. Female flower 1, consisting of a superior, 3-lobed ovary with 3 styles; male flowers 2-20, tiny, consisting of 1 stamen. Fruit a glabrous, 3-lobed, subglobose schizocarp 1-1.5 mm long, broadest near the middle, splitting into 3 one-seeded segments.

Antipyretic, astringent, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, hemostatic, laxative and narcotic (plant)

The plant is used for treating abrasion, bleeding, buccal ulcer, callus, cancer, colic, constipation, diarrhea, dysentery, dysuria, fever, intestinal ailments, leukorrhea, marasmus, menorrhagia, ophthalmia, respirosis, ringworm, sclerosis, stomatosis, toothache, tumor, uterosis, warts and water retention. The infusion of roots are taken for yellow urine.

Plant juice may cause temporary blindness if introduced into the eyes.

James A Duke and Maryl Fulton. Handbook of Medicinal Herbs - 2nd Edition, P: 693, CRC Press July 2002.