Scientific Name
Other Names
Life Form
Family
Medicine-Traditionally been used to treat bronchitic asthma and laryngeal spasm, though in modern herbalism it is more used in the treatment of intestinal amoebic dysentery.
Tropical & Subtropical America
Thrives in tropical and subtropical regions, including disturbed areas, roadsides, and wastelands.
It is slender-stemmed annual herb growing up to 40 cm tall with a spreading and branching habit.
Stem is reddish or purplish, cylindrical, hairy, about 0.2-0.4 cm in diameter.
Leaves are opposite, elliptic-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 1-2.5 cm long, with a toothed margin. Often blotched with purple in the center.
Flowers are small, purplish to greenish, clustered tightly together in groups that arise from the leaf axils (dense axillary cymes), about 0.1 cm long.
Fruit is broadly ovoid, hairy capsule, three-angled, about 1.5 cm long.
Flowering and Fruiting: June-December.