It is a much-branched biennial plant, occurring widely with an anthropogenic distribution, harvested from the wild and used as both food and medicine.

Parts of the plant are used as a diaphoretic, a colic medicine for children, a diuretic expectorant, and as a febrifuge and vermifuge.

A poultice made from crushed plant parts is applied to wounds by the Basuto, while the roots are used in the treatment of eye ailments.

Tests for bitters, alkaloid, volatile oil, hydrocyanic acid, saponin and triterpenoids have proven negative.

[2] From Côte d'Ivoire to Ethiopia, south to South Africa, Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, eastward to China and Malaysia.