Botany
Erect perennial herbs, smooth or hairy, rarely branching.Stem erect, stout and dark red, about 15 to 60 cm high. Lower leaves ovate or lanceolate, 3.5 to 7 cm long with pointed tip and base prolonged into a petiole. Margins somewhat toothed. Upper leaves small, narrower and entire as to margin.
Flowers: Small and yellow, one to four on short axillary peduncles collected into a long leafy panicle. Involucral bracts narrow and pointed. Ray flowers usually number 8. Inflorescence occurring as heads. Fruits are cylindrical or angled achenes, smooth or somewhat covered with short hairs.

Distribution
In open grassy slopes in thin pine forest at an altitude 1,400 to 2,100 m. Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental in Baguio and Manila.

Constituents
High in flavonoids, especially quercitrin and rutin.
Yields saponins, especially in the aerial parts.
Steam distilled essential oil yielded sixty components with the main constituents: a-pinene, myrcene, ß-pinene, limonene, sabinene and germacrene-D.

Properties
Minty, bitter tasting, cooling nature.
Considered anthelmintic, antifungal, astringent, decongestant, anti-infectious, diaphoretic, diuretic, antiphlogistic, analgesic.
Saponins are considered responsible for antifungal, diuretic and expectorant effects; rutin for capillary fragility; phenolic glycosides for antiinflammatory effect.
Commission E reports it as diuretic, mildly antispasmodic and antiphlogistic.

Parts utilized
· Entire plant.
· Best collected from August to October.
· Rinse, sun-dry, compress or use fresh.

Uses
Folkloric
Poisonous snake bites.
Throat swelling and pain, tonsillitis, cough, cold.
Sprains and furuncle infections, sores, carbuncles, bruises.
Dosage: 9 to 30 gms dried material, 30 to 60 gms fresh material in decoction.
Fresh material may be pounded and applied as poultice over afflicted area.
Decoction of tea for vomiting and flatulence.
In China, leaves are officinal, used to dissolve blood and expel flatus. Also used for hemorrhages, wounds, menstrual disorders, cholera, diarrhea.
- In various traditional practicies, used for wound healing, tuberculosis, diabetes, liver enlargment, gout, hemorrhoids, internal bleedng, asthma and rheumatic diseases.
- In Europe, used as diuretic, for urinary tract infections and kidney stones.
- Topical preparations used for wound healing, eczema and various skin conditions. .. .source
Edible
Tea from decoction of leaves.
Others
Yellow dye obtained from leaves and flowers. source
Recent uses
• Approved by Commission E for irrigation therapy for inflammation of the lower genitourinary tract, urinary calculi and kidney gravel; also as prophylaxis for urinary calculi.
• Hyperuricemic use: 30-minute infusion of one tablespoon of dried plant per cup of water; 3 cups daily.

Preparations
• Tea: 2-3 teaspoons of dried herb in one cup of hot water, let stand for 10 min, strain, drink 3 times daily.
• Gargle: Decoction of herb as gargle, 3 times daily.
• Tincture: (1:5) in 45% ethanol (90 proof lambanog will do); 2 - 4 cc, 2 to 3 times daily.

Interactions
• Diuretics: Tantanduk may increase the effect of diuretics and cause dehydration or negative fluid balance. Because of the diuretic effects, it may cause certain drug levels to increase in the blood; ex: lithium.

Studies
• Antineoplastic: Extract study shows S virgaurea exhibited strong cytotoxic activities on various tumor cell lines (human prostate, breast, melanoma, and small cell lung carcinoma) and showed promise as an antineoplastic medicine with minimal toxicities.
• Anti-Inflammatory / Herbal Combinations: Study of extracts of P tremula, Solidago virgaurea and F excelsior, individually and in 3 different combinations in the carrageenan-induced edema and adjuvant-induced arthritis of rat paw showed significant dose-dependent anti-inflammatory activity. The activity of herbal combinations was comparable to diclofenac.
• Antioxidant / Antimicrobial: Study of various extracts to determine antioxidant activity showed the methanol extract to have the highest activity. The methanol extract also showed antimicrobial activities against S aureus, Enterobacter faecalis, E coli and Bacillus cereus.
• Osteoarthritis / Review / Phytodolor: (1) Review of trials showed promising evidence for the effective use of some herbal preparations in the treatment of osteoarthritis. (2) Phytodolor is a combination of alcoholic extracts of Populus tremula, Fraxinus excelsior and Solidago virgaurea in 3:1:1 proportion. The active ingredients are salicin, salicyl alcohol, phenolcarbon acids, flavonoids. triterpensaponines and coumarin derivatives. Its mechanism of action is proposed to be the inhibitionn of arachidonic acid metabolism via COX and lipooxygenase pathways, with subsequent suppression of mediators of inflammation such as PGE2.

Concerns
This drug material contains fafonin with anemic effect on the body. Prolonged use in large doses may cause gastrointestinal hemorrhage.
Not to be used for genitourinary therapy in the presence of impairment of cardiac and renal functions.

Availability
Wild-crafted. 
Tea, capsules, tinctures, supplements in the cybermarket.