Botany:
· Delicate, creeping, smooth herb with the stems rooting at the nodes.
· Leaves: orbicular or subreniform, thin, about 1 cm in diameter with heart-shaped base and margins somewhat lobed, the lobes being short and having 2 or 3 teeth.
· Flowers: small, white, sessile, axillary, sepals lacking, petals and stamens 5. Umbels very small, with few flowers.
· Fruits: few, sometimes only 2 or 3 on a peduncle and less than 1 mm long, ellipsoid, usually with red colored spots.

Distribution
Along small streams in shaded ravines, ascending to 1,600 m; in Manila occasionally in damp shaded gardens at sea level; in Luzon (Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Abra, Mountain Province, Benguet, Laguna, Bataan, Quezon, Pangasinan, Rizal, and Manila) and Negros,

Parts utilized
· Entire plant.
· Gathered throughout the year.
· Rinse after collection, sun-dry before use or use in fresh state.

Constituents and properties
Sweet tasting, slightly minty.
Expectorant and antitussive; antifebrile, diuretic.
Roots contain vellarin and vitamin C.
Juice is emetic.

Folkloric uses
In Malaya, mixed with sugar and cassia bark for coughs.
Leaves pounded with alum for poulticing scrotal skin ailments.

Availability
Wild-crafted.