Sphaeranthus indicus L.

Spreading shrub 25–80 cm high. Stem wings irregularly dentate, pubescent. Leaves narrowly elliptic to obovate, 35–90 mm long, 7–25 mm wide, irregularly dentate, obtuse or acute, aromatic, densely pubescent, with glandular and non-glandular hairs; sessile glands abundant. Glomerules globose, 11–19 × 11–19 mm, terminal; peduncles 3–70 mm long; bract subtending each capitulum linear, c. 3.5 mm long, ciliate on upper margins, acute; involucral bracts obovate to oblanceolate, 3.9–4.5 mm long, ciliate on upper margins. Female florets 3–10, corolla filiform, 1.6–2.5 mm long, pink to purple, with sparse glandular hairs. Disc florets 1–3, sterile, bottle-shaped, 3.3–3.5 mm long; corolla lobes 0.3–0.5 mm long; globose sessile glands present. Achenes 1.1–1.3 mm long, with glands sparse or absent, and sparse twin hairs.

A tropical plant. It grows on clays and seasonally flooded areas. It grows in rice fields. In southern China it grows along sandy banks along rivers between 700-1,000 m above sea level. In Yunnan.

This species is a traditional medicinal plant in India, said to be beneficial in the treatment of jaundice, fever and mental illness, as a hepatoprotector, and having an antimicrobial function.