Botany
A creeping, succulent mat-forming perennial herb, with rounded stems rooting at the nodes. Leaves are opposite, ovate, dentate, shallowly 3-cleft, glossy and green. Flowers are 2 cm across and golden yellow.

Distribution
Rare cultivation.
Makes an excellent and decorative ground cover.

Parts utilized
Leaves, flowers.

Constituents
• Study isolated main bioactive sesquiterpene lactones, trilobolid-6-O-isobutyrates A and B.
• From the flower, the structure of trilobolide-6-O-isobytyrate shows a eudesmanolide sesquiterpene skeleton.
• Contains the diterpene (kaurenoic acid), eudesmanolide lactones and luteolin (in leaves and stems.

Properties
• Study isolated

Uses
Folkloric
• No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
• In Trinidad and Tobago, used for reproductive problems, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea.
• In South America, used to treat symptoms of colds and flu; for fevers and inflammations.

Studies
• Antiinflammatory: An investigation of four herbal drugs, including Sphagneticola trilobata, on the anti-inflammatory activity of Central American plants used in traditional medicine, showed all the extracts reduced croton oil-induced ear dermatitis. Results suggest the lipophilic extracts to be potential sources of antiinflammatory activity.
• Antimicrobial: A study of the n-hexane extract of Wedelia trilobata showed antibacterial activity against Bacilus subtilis, Mycobacterium smegmatis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella group C, S paratyphi and Shigella sonnei.
• Analgesic: Study in mice on the analgesic activity of the ethanol extracts of W trilobata, W bilofra and E alba showed dose-dependent blocking of writhing response.

Availability
Wild-crafted. 

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Simultaneous Determination of Trilobolide-6-O-Isobutyrates A and B in Wedelia trilobata by Gas Chromatography / Xuesong HUANG et al / Chinese Journal of Chromatography • Volume 24, Issue 5, September 2006, Pages 499-502 / doi:10.1016/S1872-2059(06)60021-7
(2)
Validation of plants used for reproductive problems in Trinidad and Tobago / Journ of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine • 2007; 3: 13./ doi: 10.1186/1746-4269-3-13.
(3)
Screening of the topical anti-inflammatory activity of the bark of Acacia cornigera Willdenow, Byrsonima crassifolia Kunth, Sweetia panamensis Yakovlev and the leaves of Sphagneticola trilobata Hitchcock / M Maldini, S Sosa, P Montoro et al / Journal of Ethnopharmacology • Volume 122, Issue 3, 21 April 2009, Pages 430-433 / doi:10.1016/j.jep.2009.02.002
(4)
Antimicrobial activity of Wedelia trilobata crude extracts / A Taddei and A J Rosas-Romero / Phytomedicine 6(2):133-4 (1999)
(5)
Trilobolide-6-O-isobutyrate, a eudesmanolide from Wedelia trilobata / X S Huang et al / Acta Cryst. (2003). E59, o771-o772 [ doi:10.1107/S1600536803009590 ]
(6)
Analgesic activities of the medicinal plants of Wedelia trilobata, Wedelia biflora and Eclipta alba in standard experimental animal models / S Sureshkumar, S Bhama et al / Biosciences, Biotechnology Research Asia, Volume 04 Number(1)