鳢肠 li chang

Verbesina prostrata Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 902. 1753; Eclipta alba (Linnaeus) Hasskarl; E. alba var. zippeliana (Blume) Miquel; E. thermalis Bunge; E. zippeliana Blume; V. alba Linnaeus.

Herbs, annual. Stems erect, ascending or prostrate, to 60(-100) cm tall, strigose-pilose, branched at base. Leaves lanceolate, 3-10 × 0.5-2.5 cm, papery, densely strigose-pubescent on both surfaces, base narrowed, sessile or shortly petiolate, margin serrulate, apex gradually acuminate. Capitula ca. 6 mm wide; peduncle slender, 2-4.5 cm; involucre globose-campanulate, ca. 5 × 6-7 mm, enlarging to 11 mm wide in fruit; phyllaries 5 or 6, 2-seriate, oblong, acute, outer longer. Ray florets 2-seriate; lamina 2.5-3 × ca. 0.4 mm, bifid or entire. Disk florets many; corolla ca. 1.5 mm, 4-lobed. Achenes ca. 2.8 × 1.5 mm, margin ribbed. Fl. Jun-Sep.

Riversides, fields, abandoned ponds, roadsides; below 1600 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [native to Central, North, and South America; introduced in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Pacific islands].