| Botany
· This plant is a more or less
hairy herb, growing up to 90 cm in height, erect, but decumbent at the
base.
· Leaves: 5 to 10 cm long, variously lobed and narrowed to the
base; the lower ones are stalked, pinnatifid or coarsely toothed, more
or less hairy, and usually hairy on the nerves beneath; this upper ones
are without stalks and 3-lobed.
· Flowers: small, 4 to 6 mm long, without stalks and borne on
dense, bracteate heads which elongate as the fruit ripens. The calyx
is twice as long as the bracts and half as long as the corolla tube,
minutely 5-toothed, and glandular hairy. The corolla is blue or lilac,
and hairy, with spreading limb; the lobes are subquadrate, with a hairy
throat.
· Fruits: dry, ultimately spreading into four 1-seeded nutlets
which are oblong and dorsally smooth, their undersurfaces covered with
minute, white flaking cells.
Distribution
A weed in waste places in and
about towns, at low and medium altitudes, only in the provinces
of Cagayan, Isabela, and Nueva Viscaya.
Parts
utilized
· Entire plant.
· Collect from May to October.
· Rinse, sun-dry, and cut into pieces.
Properties
Bitter tasting, refrigerant.
Anticontusive, antifebrile, anti-infectious, diuretic.
Eases out lymphatic circulation.
Constituents
Contains verbenalin, transferase,
amygdalase, and tannin
Folkloric
uses
· Amenorrhea, difficult
menstruation.
· High fever during influenza, malaria.
· Hepatitis, hepatic sclerosis.
· Nephritis, edema, urinary tract infection, urinary tract
lithiasis.
· Sprains, eczema, dermatitis.
· Decoction: 15-30 gm of dried material. Wash used for
eczemma and dermatitis.
· Poultice of pounded fresh material for sprains and contusions.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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