Botany
Erect perennial herbs, smooth or hairy, rarely branching.Stem erect, stout and dark red, about 15 to 60 cm high. Lower leaves ovate or lanceolate, 3.5 to 7 cm long with pointed tip and base prolonged into a petiole. Margins somewhat toothed. Upper leaves small, narrower and entire as to margin.
Flowers: Small and yellow, one to four on short axillary peduncles collected into a long leafy panicle. Involucral bracts narrow and pointed. Ray flowers usually number 8. Inflorescence occurring as heads. Fruits are cylindrical or angled achenes, smooth or somewhat covered with short hairs.

Distribution
In open grassy slopes in thin pine forest at an altitude 1,400 to 2,100 m. Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental in Baguio and Manila.

Parts utilized
· Entire plant.
· Best collected from August to October.
· Rinse, sun-dry, compress or use fresh.

Chemical constituents and characteristics
Minty, bitter tasting, cooling nature. Decongestants, anti-infectious, antiphlogistic, analgesic.
Astringent, diaphoretic and diuretic.

Folkloric uses
Poisonous snake bites.
Throat swelling and pain, tonsillitis, cough, cold.
Sprains and furuncle infections, sores, carbuncles, bruises.
Dosage: 9 to 30 gms dried material, 30 to 60 gms fresh material in decoction.
Fresh material may be pounded and applied as poultice over afflicted area.
Decoction of tea for vomiting and flatulence.

Note: This drug material contains fafonin with anemic effect on the body. Prolonged use in large doses may cause gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

Availability
Wild-crafted.