鱼眼草 yu yan cao

Hippia integrifolia Linnaeus f., Suppl. Pl. 389. 1782; Cotula bicolor Roth; C. latifolia Persoon, nom. illeg. superfl.; Dichrocephala auriculata (Thunberg) Druce; D. bicolor (Roth) Schlechtendal; D. latifolia Candolle, nom. illeg. superfl.; Ethulia auriculata Thunberg; Grangea latifolia Lamarck ex Poiret, nom. illeg. superfl.

Herbs, annual. Stems erect, 12-55 cm tall, robust, rarely slender, simple or branched from base, branches ascending, stems and branches sparsely to moderately white villous or pubescent. Leaves: petiole 1-3.5 cm, narrowly winged, base clasping, blade ovate, elliptic, or lanceolate, surfaces sparsely to moderately strigose, margin coarsely doubly serrate or incised, villous-ciliate, base attenuate; mid cauline 3-12 × 2-4.5 cm, lyrately pinnatilobate, terminal lobe large, lateral lobes 1- or 2-paired; upper or lower often simple and gradually smaller. Capitula globose, 3-5 mm in diam., 5-26 in terminal paniculiform synflorescences; peduncles slender, to 3 cm. Phyllaries 2-seriate, unequal, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 1-1.5 mm, membranous, margin scarious, fimbriate. Receptacle globose, apex flat. Marginal female florets many seriate, white, sometimes turning purplish, corolla narrowly cylindric, 0.4-0.5 mm, usually 2-lobed; disk florets few, ca. 0.5 mm, tube short, limb narrowly campanulate to funnelform, 4- or 5-lobed, sessile glandular. Achenes straw-colored, obovate, compressed, glabrous, sparsely glandular apically and/or basally. Pappus absent, or of disk florets sometimes with 1 or 2 bristles. Fl. and fr. year-round.

Slopes, shaded valleys, forests on slopes, watersides, meadows on clay, wastelands, roadsides, trailsides; 200-2000 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; tropical Africa, SW Asia (Iran); introduced in SW Asia (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey), Australia, and Pacific islands].

This is a medicinal plant, used for dyspepsia, indigestion, as an antiphlogistic, and as an antiemetic.