1. Cotula anthemoides Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 891. 1753; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 3: 316. 1881; Kashyap, Lahore Dist. Fl. 142. fig. 111. 1936; R. R. Stewart, Ann. Cat. Vasc. Pl. W. Pak. & Kashm. 735. 1972; Täckh., Stud. Fl. Egypt 579. Pl. 205 D. 1974; Tsiang & Li, Icon. Corm. Sin. 4: 519. fig. 6449. 1975; B.D.Naithani in Hajra et al., Fl. Ind. 12: 52. 1995; Chaudhary, Fl. Kingd. Saudi Arabia 2(3): 180. 2000; Grierson & Springate in Grierson, D.G.Long & Springate, Fl. Bhutan 2(3): 1568. 2001.
Vern.: Babuna, Babunah.
Procumbent or decumbent, pale-green, glabrous herb with several, up to 20 cm long branches from the base. Leaves subsessile, petiole semi-amplexicaule, ovate-oblong, (1.5-) 2 – 4 (-5) x 1.5 – 3 (3.5) cm, pinnatifid to 2-pinnatisect with narrowly oblong, serrate, acute ultimate segments. Capitula subglobose, yellow, 4 – 6 mm across, solitary on filiform, 4 – 5 cm long peduncles. Involucre ± saucer shaped, phyllaries narrowly oblong, c. 1 – 1.25 x 0.5 – 0.75 mm, nerved within, membranous-margined, with obtuse scarious apices. Receptacle flat. Outer florets female with an inconspicuous corolla, c. half as long as those of disc-floret corollas, fertile. Disc-florets bisexaul, fertile, with c. 2 mm long, ± campanulate corolla, fertile. Cypselas ovate, c. 1 mm long, narrowly winged, wing c. 0.3 mm, ray-cypselas flat, broader than disc-cypselas, all pale-brown.
Fl. Per.: March-June.
Lectotype: Herb. Clifford: 417, Cotula No. 3 (BM).
A weed in gardens in the plains and lower altitudes in Western Himalayas; Distribution: China, India, Pakistan, W. Arabia, South Africa and Egypt.
The powder of capitula warmed with oil is used as poultice for treatment of rheumatic pain.
