False Daisy

This plant has fibrous cylindrical, grayish roots from a shallow taproot. Solid, circular, purplish stems with white fine hairs, and grows between 0.3 and 1.5 m in height. Leaves arranged in opposite pairs, hairy in two-sided, lanceolate, serrated 2–12.5 cm long, 5–35 mm wide. The solitary perfect flower heads are 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) in diameter, with white florets. The bumpy achenes are compressed and narrowly winged with the papus attached at the apex, as well as an inconspicuous tuft of small trichomes.

The plant has traditional uses in Ayurveda. In Hindi speaking regions of India, it is known as bhangra or bhringaraj. Wedelia calendulacea is known by the same names, so the white-flowered E. alba is called white bhangra and the yellow-flowered W. calendulacea is called yellow bhangra. In Southeast Asia, the dried whole plant is used in traditional medicine, although there is no high-quality clinical research to indicate such uses are effective. The Balinese cook it as a vegetable, the Javanese consume this herb (orang-aring or urang-aring) as part of their lalap, they also infuse it with coconut oil as a kind of hair oil popular until the 1970s Its leaves are extracted as a black hair dye, and in tattooing.

Eclipta prostrata contains various phytochemicals, such as coumestans, polypeptides, polyacetylenes, thiophene derivatives, steroids, sterols, triterpenes, and flavonoids.