Botany:
· Decumbent, spreading or sometimes suberect, succulent annual herb with bristly hairs.
· Stems rather slender, usually reddish and up to 30 cm or more in length.
· Leaves: linear-oblong to lanceolate, 1 to 5 cm long, without petioles, entire or slightly toothed, and pointed or blunt at the tip.
· Flowers: receptacle scaly, bracts all similar, paleae (scale) of receptacle flat and narrow. Ray flowers female, 2-seriate, fertile or sterile, white, ligule small, narrow, entire or 2-toothed. Disk flowers very numerous, perfect, fertile, tubular, the limb 4- or 5-fid. Flowering heads white, 5 to 6 mm long and about 5 mm in diameter.
· Fruits: achenes black, about 3 mm long and smooth or slightly hairy at the tip.
· The crushed leaves and broken surface of the vegetative parts produce a black stain.

Distribution
Ubiquitous weed in settled areas , in gardens, in open waste places, ditches, rice fileds and low damp lands.

Parts utilized
· Part utilized: whole plant.
· Collect when the vegetative parts are in full bloom. Sun-dry, either whole or cut into pieces.

Chemical constituents and properties
Plant contains a large amount of resin and an alkaloid ecliptine.
Cooling, anodyne, absorbent.
Root is purgative and emetic.
Anti-bleeding. A tonic for kidney organ. Tastes sweet-sour. Cooling nature. Astringent and coagulant.

Uses
Folkloric
· Decoction of Eclipta (15-30 g of dried material) with equal volume of Morus fruit: Used for weakness of the kidney and/or liver causing dizziness, blurring of vision, hematemosis and lumbar pains.
· Decoction of dried or fresh plant material: Used for internal hemorrhage especially bleeding in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts (eg, pulmonary tuberculosis, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, hematuria).
· For bleeding due associated with superficial injuries - get fresh plant, crush and use as an emollient over wound to aid in coagulation.
· For bloody stool and urine of any cause: boil 4 to 9 gms of dried drug to decoction and drink twice a day.
· External wash of decoction of 15-30 g dried material: Used for athlete's foot.
· Dysentery: boil dried drug 15 to 30 gms to decoction and smaller dosage for infants.
· For sprains, furuncle, dermatitis: 15 to 30 gms of dried material in decoction or use pounded fresh material as poultice.
· The leaves and tops brewed in decoction are used in cases of hepatitis. Powdered, they are employed for healing wounds.
· Poultice of leaves for wound healing.
· Poultice of leaves for wound healing.
Others
· Used for tattooing and hair dyeing.
· Pounded leaves with coconut oil used for hair growth.

Availability
Wild-crafted.