Asteraceae
Eclipta

Eclipta prostrata (L.) L.

First published in Mant. Pl. 2: 286 (1771)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Temp. & Subtropical America. It is an annual or perennial and grows primarily in the temperate biome. It is used to treat unspecified medicinal disorders, as animal food and a medicine, has environmental uses and for food.

Descriptions

Compositae, H. Beentje, C. Jeffrey & D.J.N. Hind. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2005

Morphology General Habit
Annual or short-lived perennial herb, erect or decumbent, sometimes scrambling, 5–90 cm high and long, sometimes mat-forming; stem fleshy or sappy, sometimes tinged with red; branches appressed scabrid-pubescent.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves narrowly ovate, narrowly elliptic or elliptic, 2–12 cm long, 0.3–4 cm wide, base cuneate or attenuate, margins serrate or serrate-crenate, apex acute or subacute, appressed scabrid-pubescent on both surfaces; petiole to 3 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum
Capitula hemispheric, stalked for up to 1 cm; involucre to 6 mm long; phyllaries 8–11, appressed-pubescent; paleae not very visible.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Ray florets in several series, inconspicuous, white, the ray 1–2 mm long; disc florets white, rarely yellow, 1–2 mm long, with puberulous lobes, but especially distinctive when young when they are flat and mid- to dark green.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes brown or black with pale margins, oblong, 2–2.5 mm long, flat or 3-gonous, subglabrous; pappus absent or of a small puberulous rim.
Figures
Fig. 151 (page 729).
Habitat
Moist sites such as swamp edges, river or lake banks, edge of rice-fields, black cotton soil; 0–1250 m
Distribution
a pantropic weed K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7
[FTEA]

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution
Nativa en Colombia; Alt. 0 - 1900 m.; Amazonia, Andes, Llanura del Caribe, Valle del Cauca, Valle del Magdalena.
Morphology General Habit
Hierba
Conservation
No Evaluada
[CPLC]

The Useful Plants of Boyacá project

Ecology
Alt. 0 - 1900 m.
Morphology General Habit
Herb.
Distribution
Native from Colombia.
[UPB]

Bernal, R., G. Galeano, A. Rodríguez, H. Sarmiento y M. Gutiérrez. 2017. Nombres Comunes de las Plantas de Colombia. http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/nombrescomunes/

Vernacular
antoniodíaz, botón blanco, botoncillo, chisacá, congolala, hierba de clavo, palo de agua, pimienta, yerba de laguna
[UNAL]

Distribution
Biogeografic region: Amazonia, Andean, Caribbean. Elevation range: 0–1900 m a.s.l. Native to Colombia. Colombian departments: Amazonas, Antioquia, Atlántico, Bolívar, Boyacá, Caldas, Casanare, Cauca, Cesar, Chocó, Córdoba, Cundinamarca, Guainía, Huila, La Guajira, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Quindío, San Andrés y Providencia, Santander, Sucre, Tolima, Valle del Cauca.
Habit
Herb.
Conservation
IUCN Red List Assessment (2021): LC. National Red List of Colombia (2021): Potential LC.
Ecology
Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, savanna, shrubland, native grassland, wetlands (inland), artificial - terrestrial.
[UPFC]

Compositae, C. D. Adams. Flora of West Tropical Africa 2. 1963

Morphology General Habit
A decumbent or erect annual herb up to 2 ft. or more high, with rough leaves and stems
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
White flower-heads about 1/3 in. across
Note
Whole plant blackening on drying
Ecology
A common tropical weed especially in damp places.
[FWTA]

Ghazanfar, S. A., Edmondson, J. R. & Hind, D. J. N. (Eds). (2019). Flora of Iraq, Volume 6: Compositae.Kew Publishing

Morphology General Habit
Hispid annual herbs, 20–60 cm tall
Morphology Stem
Stems basally branched, sulcate, erect, ascending or prostrate
Morphology Leaves
Leaves opposite, sessile, 2–12 × 0.3–1.8 cm, oblong-elliptic, lanceolate or oblanceolate, green when fresh turning blackish on drying, apices subacute to acute
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum
Capitula axillary, solitary or few, heterogamous and radiate; pedicels 1–8 cm; involucres broadly campanulate to hemispherical, 3–4 mm in diameter in flower expanding to 7–9 mm in diameter in fruit and appearing almost cupulate; outer phyllaries 4 × 2 mm, broad- lanceolate, subacute, hispid-pubescent, inner phyllaries similar but with narrow scarious margins; receptacle at first flat becoming slightly convex in fruit, paleaceous; paleae persistent, 2–3 mm long, outer linear, inner filiform, apices dilate, laciniate
Ray
Ray florets female, fertile, multiseriate, c. 3 mm, ray limb 1–2 mm long, white, apex bidentate
Disc
Disc florets hermaphrodite, fertile, numerous, corollas c. 2 mm long, falling rapidly after anthesis
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes 2.5–3 × 1 mm, at first conspicuously green and becoming blackish at maturity, obconical, truncate, tuberculate, setuliferous in upper half when immature; pappus absent or visible as a puberulent rim when immature.
Ecology
A widespread weedy species, preferring damp or swampy areas, often in irrigation schemes or in cultivated areas, found on pond margins, seepage areas and in flood plains; from near sea level to c. 2000 m;
Phenology
flowering throughout the year in ideal conditions.
Distribution
Mostly restricted to the east alongside rivers and floodplains, especially alongside the Tigris and its tributaries.
Vernacular
BARKAIJAH (Guest 3473) and SANAISLAH (Guest 3578).
[FIQ]

George R. Proctor (2012). Flora of the Cayman Isands (Second Edition). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Morphology General Habit
An erect or decumbent herb up to 50 cm tall or more, the stems strigose with basally swollen hairs
Morphology Leaves
Leaves sessile, very narrowly elliptic or narrowly lanceolate, mostly 2–7 cm long, bluntly acuminate at the apex and long-cuneate at the base, the margins entire or minutely toothed, the surfaces bearing strigose hairs
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Peduncles
Peduncles 1–6 cm long; heads 6–9 mm across; phyllaries ovate, acute, 3.5–4 mm long; ray-florets with linear ligules ca. 2 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes glabrous, rugose, black, 2 mm long; pappus of 2 very short awns joined by a fimbriate flange.
Distribution
Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac. A pantropical weed.
Ecology
Weed of roadside ditches and low moist ground.
[Cayman]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/164051/121894451

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/199693/9118537

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds Protein Content

15.60% Entire seed/nut. Moisture content not stated (Barclay & Earle, 1974)

[SID]

Vernacular
Clavo de pozo, Congolala, Herb de clavo, Juan eliberto, Vangolalá
[UPFC]

Uses

Use Materials
Materials (State of the World's Plants 2016).
Use Materials Unspecified Materials Chemicals
Materials (State of the World's Plants 2016).
Use Medicines Unspecified Medicinal Disorders
Medicinal (State of the World's Plants 2016).
[UPB]

Use Animal Food
Used as animal food.
Use Environmental
Environmental uses.
Use Gene Sources
Used as gene sources.
Use Food
Used for food.
Use Materials
Used as material.
Use Medicines
Medical uses.
[UPFC]

Common Names

English
Eclipta

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Iraq

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of the Cayman Islands

    • Flora of the Cayman Islands
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Neotropikey

    • Milliken, W., Klitgard, B. and Baracat, A. (2009 onwards), Neotropikey - Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics.
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Plants and People Africa

    • Common Names from Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com/
    • © Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Seed Information Database

    • Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. (2019) Seed Information Database (SID). Version 7.1. Available from: http://data.kew.org/sid/ (September 2019)
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Useful Plants of Boyacá Project

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • World Checklist of Vascular plants (WCVP)

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0