Botany
Low annual herb. Leaves are broadly ovate or orbicular, purple-red wih lighter colored prominent arched veins. A common variety has green or reddish-green leaves with yellow veins. Flowers are small. Tepals greenish white or yellowish-white.

Distribution
Native to tropical America.
Cultivated throughout the Philippines.

Folkloric uses
No folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
In the northern Peruvian Andes, used for magic-therapeutical purposes.
Traditional healers use it to used to expel evil spirits from the body.
Used in association with other plants, such as Trichocereus pachanos, for divination, for diagnosing diseases, and to take possession of another identity.
STUDIES
(1) Studied to evaluate if the central effects of Iresine herbstii with Brugmansia arborea could be associated with interaction with SNC receptors. The results of the experiments indicate that Iresine herbstii methanolic extract was able to interact with the central 5-HT2C and D1 receptors and Iresine herbstii aqueous extract showed affinity for D2 receptors, thus confirming their ritual use.
(2) Animal experiments indicate the plants were able to significantly reduce the central nervous system activity. The reduction of motor coordination and stereotyped behaviour together with induced locomotor activity support the possibility that all the studied plants act as psychotropic agents, thus confirming their ritual use.

Availability
Cultivated.