It is a small, upright, sparsely branched shrub with yellow flowers and widespread in Asia, Africa and Australia.

The fruit is a dark brown to black cypsela, 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long, curved and ridged.

[2][4][5] Sigesbeckia orientalis was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus and the description was published in Species Plantarum.

[8] The botanist, Johann Georg Siegesbeck was an outspoken critic of Linnaeus' new classification of plant sexual systems, referring to it as "lewd" and "loathsome harlotry".

[12] It is a widespread species in Australia growing on river banks and on shallow, stony locations.