A prostate, spreading, annual herb. The stems are somewhat fleshy, 30 centimeters or more in length, branched, rooting at the lower nodes, and somewhat hairy. The leaves are stalkless, linear-oblong, 3 to 5 centimeters in length, pointed or blunt at the tip, usually truncate at the base, and somewhat toothed at the margins. The flowering heads are without stalks, are borne singly in the axils of the leaves, and excluding the bracts, are less than 1 centimeter in diameter. The outer pair of the involucral bracts is ovate and 1 to 1.2 centimeters long; the inner pair is somewhat smaller. The flowers are white or greenish-white. The acheness are enclosed by rigid receptacle-scales.

Antibilious, laxative, demulcent (leaf);

Fluctuadin, stigmasterol, fluctuanin, enhydrin, gibberellins A9 and A13 and certain diterpenes (plant).

In dropsy, anasarca, ascites and snakebite (plant); in skin and nervous affections, biliousness and constipation (leaves).

Chandel et al., Biodiversity in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in India.