Artemisia maderaspatana Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 849. 1753; Cotula sphaeranthus Link; Grangea procumbens Candolle; G. sphaeranthus (Link) K. Koch.

Herbs, annual, (5-)10-30 cm tall. Stems slender, usually procumbent, branched, white villous or glabrescent in lower part by anthesis. Leaves usually obovate, oblanceolate, or obspatulate, 3.5-7.5 × 1.5-2.5 cm, surfaces white villous, glandular; basal sessile, blade pandurate or lyrate-lobate, to ca. 10 × 4 cm, base usually auriculate, terminal lobe obovate or suborbicular, margin coarsely dentate, lateral lobes 2-5-paired; upper gradually smaller. Capitula terminal, solitary, rarely paired, 8-10 mm in diam. Involucre hemispheric; phyllaries 2- or 3-seriate, outer series lanceolate-ovate, 4-8 mm, outer surface villous, margin fimbriate, ciliate, apex acute to obtuse, inner series oblanceolate or obovate, clawed, obtuse. Receptacles hemispheric. Florets sparsely glandular; marginal female florets yellow, 2-6-seriate, corolla filiform, ca. 1 mm, shortly 2- or 4-lobed; disk florets shortly cylindric campanulate, ca. 1.5 mm, lobes ovate. Achenes compressed, glabrous, glandular, ± thickly 2-ribbed, apex truncate, with a thickened, toothed ring. Pappus absent. Fl. and fr. Jan-Aug.

The leaves are used medicinally as a stomachic, an antitussive, and for regulating menses.

Riverbanks, watersides, rice paddies, sandy areas, meadows, open forests, thickets; below 100-1000 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, S Yunnan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; tropical Africa].