Plants 30-70 cm tall. Stems gray-green, apically branched, glabrous. Leaves 3-9 × 1.5-4 cm, apex acute. Bracts lanceolate, midvein green. Calyx green, 1-1.5 cm × 5-10 mm, 5-angled, submembranous between angles; calyx teeth triangular, margin scarious; globose in fruit. Petals 1.4-1.7 cm × 2-3 mm; claw greenish, narrowly cuneate; limb pink, emarginate, sometimes erose. Stamens included. Styles slightly exserted. Capsule 8-10 mm. Seeds red-brown to black, ca. 2 mm, granulate.

Anodyne, discutient, diuretic, emmenagogue, galactogogue, styptic and vulnerary (seed); febrifuge and tonic (plant sap)

Plants For A Future

A decoction of seeds is used to treat skin problems, breast tumours, dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea, testitis, deficiency of lactation and sluggish labour. The plant sap s used in the treatment of long-continued fevers of a low type. The plant is used externally to cure itch.

Contraindicated during pregnancy.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 650, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.