Distribution and habitat: It is a creeping herb and distributed through out India.

Botany: Diffusely branched   prostrate herb. Roots large. Stems up to 1.2 m long, slender, cylindrical, thickened at the nodes, 

• Leaves: often purplish, long petioled, at each node in unequal pairs, ovate or oblong – cordate, entire or sinuate, glabrous above and whitish beneath, the margins entire, often coloured pink, somewhat undulate, base rounded or sub cordate; petioles as long as the blade, slender.
• Flowers: 4-10 together, red pink or white, in small umbels   arranged in axillary and terminal panicles, short stalked, perianth 3 mm long, ovarial part of tube 1.25 mm long, limb funnel shaped, dark pink, with 5 narrow vertical bands out side. Stamens 2 or 3, slightly exserted
• Fruits: 3 mm long, ovate, oblong, pubescent, five ribbed, viscoid, glandular anthocarps

Properties: Laxative, diuretic, hepatoprotective, expectorant, emetic, purgative, anthelmintic, febrifuge 

Chemical constituents: Roots- phytoecdysone- β-ecdysterone, and punarnavoside (2-glucopyrano-4-hydroxy-5-(p-hydroxy phenyl)-propionyl diphenyl methane), an antifibrinolytic agent

Uses:

• Whole plant- cardiac disorder, lumbago, scabies, jaundice, anaemia, strangury
• Roots- anticonvulsant, analgesic, laxative
• Leaf –stomachic,  juice serves internally as blood purifier, muscular pain, and ophthalmia

Formulations: Kumargasavam, Dhanvantaram kulumbu, Chyavanaprasam

Agrotechnology 

Soil: Being a weed of waste land, it can grow on a variety of soil.

Propagation: Seeds, vegetative propagation and also through tissue culture   from stem segments.