A prostrate or reclining to erect, often branched, annual or perennial herb, 30 – 100cm tall.
Stem: cylindrical, green or purplish, rooting at basal nodes, and often covered with long white hairs.
Leaf: oblong to lance-shaped, opposite, sessile or short-stalked, with more or less coarse hairs; margins entire or slightly toothed, up to 2 - 16cm long.
Inflorescence: terminal and axillary, about 1cm across, white or cream, on peduncles to 7cm long.
Fruit: achene, densely warted, either brown or black, 2 - 3mm long.
Propagation
By seeds
Agricultural usage/ importance
A common weed of rainfed lowland rice in the Philippines, Indonesia, and India, and other crops, including sugarcane, flax, taro, papaya, banana, soybean, vegetables, and cotton.
Alternate host of root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.).
Control method
Hand weeding.
Pre-emergence application of oxadiazon or post-emergence spraying of either 2, 4-D or MCPA reported to be effective.
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