Botany:
Buñga-buñga is a spreading or prostrate, erect, more or less branched, glabrous, succulent herb, 0.4 to 1.4 meters high. The ultimate branches are covered with two lines of hairs onn the internodes, and the flowering ones are ascending. Leaves are stalkless, simple or pinnately compound, the leaflets elliptic, crenate or obscurely toothed, usually about 2.5 to 7 centimeters long, thick and succulent.
Flowers are minute, paniculate, pendulous, white, and crowded in very short, axillary heads. Sepals are lanceolate, 2 to 2.5 millimeters long. Fruit is dry and flattened, broadly obcordate utricle, containing one seed.

Distribution
- Very common weed in open, usually wet places throughout the Philippines, in settled areas at low and medium altitudes.
- Pantropic.

Parts utilized
Entire plant; use fresh.
May be collected the whole year round.

Constituents
- High in antioxidant carotene.
- Phytochemical studies yielded B-carotene, ricinoleic acid, myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids, a-spiraterol, uronic acid, and B-sitosterol.
- Study of phenolic and flavonoid content revealed: total crude phenolic content, 1.529; total phenolic acid, 1.404; and flavonoids, 0.370 (values in mg/g dry wt.).
- Study of phenolic and

Properties
Slightly tart tasting, cooling, antiphlogistic-analgesic , antidermatosis, antiseptic.
Considered febrifugal, galactagogue, abortifacient.

Uses
Edibility
• Some places, leaves and young shoots eaten as vegetables.
• In Ceylon, largely eaten as vegetable.
• In Africa, used for relishes, sauces and soups.
• Considered a famine plant.
Folkloric
• Poultice of pounded fresh material to sprains, burns and eczema.
• Carbuncle, erysipelas.
• Used as a wash for eyes.
• In other cuntries, used for treating acne vulgaris, dyspepsia, liver problems.
• Decoction used for nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dysentery, cough, bronchitis and diabetes.
• In West Tropical Africa, used as poultice for boils.
• In Sri Lanka, used for cystitis, gonorrhea, snake bite. Also, used by mothers to increase flow of milk.
• In Ghana, salted decoction used for hematemesis.
• In India, used for gastrointestinal problems; also as cholagogue, abortifacient and febrifuge. Also, used for snake bites.
• In Nigeria, for headaches and vertigo.
• In Taiwan, for hepatitis, bronchitis, asthma.
Others
• Used for animal feed supplement.

Studies
• Antimicrobial / Wound Healing Activities: Study on extract of leaves showed significant results in different parameters of wound healing. The presence of sterols was also confirmed.
• Hepatoprotective: A study on the hepatoprotective effects of Taiwanese herb Alternanthera sessilis on liver damage induced by various hepatotoxins showed hepatoprotective effects with a reduction of elevation of SGOT and SGPT .
• Ionone Derivatives / Antimicrobial: Chloroform extract of dried leaves yielded a mixture of diasteromers of a new ionone derivative with low activities against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Trichophyton mentagrophytes.
• Antioxidant: (1) Study showed ethanol extract to have 70% free radical scavenging activity. (2) Study concludes Alternanthera sessilis showed potent radical-scavenging activity and metal ion chelating activity.
• Antidiabetic: Study of aqueous extract of aerial parts showed significant dose-dependent antidiabetic activity with lowering of blood glucose concentration, glycosylated hemoglobin, LDL, total cholesterol.
• Antibacterial: The antibacterial effect of leaves and internodal-segments derived calli of A. sessilis was evaluated against Proteus vulgaris, Strep pyogenes, B subtilis and Salmonella typhi. the ethanolic extracts of leaves and leaves-derived calli were more effective against the selected bacterial than other solvents. Plants extracts showed antibacterial activity against Gram negative P. aeruginosa and Gram positive Staph epidermis.
• Hematinic Activity: Study showed that Lupo (A. sessilis) has hematinic activity particularly in iron deficiency anemia. Results suggest AS is a potential drug for augmentation of hemoglobin and serum ferritin in iron deficiency anemia.
• Antipyretic Activity: Study showed the ethanol extract of aerial parts of Alternanthera sessilis has dose-dependent antipyretic activity.
• Antibacterial / Antifungal: Plants extracts showed antibacterial activity against Gram negative P. aeruginosa and Gram positive Staph epidermis. Plant also showed antifungal activity against yeasts S. cerevisiae and Candida albicans.

Availability
Wild-crafted.