石胡荽 shi hu sui

Artemisia minima Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 849. 1753; A. orbicularis (Loureiro) Roxburgh; A. sternutatoria Roxburgh; Centipeda minima var. lanuginosa (Candolle) Domin; C. minuta (G. Forster) Bentham ex C. B. Clarke; C. orbicularis Loureiro; C. orbicularis var. lanuginosa (Candolle) F. M. Bailey; Cotula minima (Linnaeus) Willdenow; C. minuta G. Forster; C. sternutatoria (Roxburgh) Wallich ex Candolle; Dichrocephala minima (Linnaeus) Bojer; Grangea minuta (G. Forster) Poiret; Myriogyne minima (Linnaeus) Lessing ex Seemann; M. minuta (G. Forster) Lessing; M. minuta var. lanuginosa Candolle; Sphaeromorphaea centipeda Candolle, nom. illeg. superfl.; S. russelliana Candolle var. glabrata Candolle.

Prostrate or ascending, slender, leafy herb, sparsely lanate to subglabrous, usually with a mixture of white cottony and coarser multicellular hairs. Branches many, spreading from root, 8-20 cm. Leaf blade oblong-obovate to spatulate, 3-12(-27) × 1.5-4(-11) mm, glabrescent to moderately cottony, margins with a few, coarse teeth. Capitula leaf-opposed or apparently axillary, solitary, sessile or subsessile, rounded, 1.5-2.5(-5) mm in diam. Phyllaries obovate, ca. 1 mm, margins membranous, erose. Female corollas 0.2-0.4 mm. Bisexual florets 8-14, often purplish. Achenes narrowly cuneate, 0.6-1 mm, tipped with persistent style, angles 4 or 5, with short, ascending bristles, continued virtually to truncate apex; faces often each with a line of sessile glands.

Disturbed habitats; below 1500(-2500) m. Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Indonesia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia, Thailand; Australia, Pacific islands (Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa)].

The Chinese material belongs to Centipeda minima subsp. minima. The second subspecies, C. minima subsp. macrocephala N. G. Wilson, is restricted to Australia.

Centipeda minima is widely used in traditional medicine.