Mo Han Lian
StarEclipta prostrata
Synonyms: Eclipta ciliata, Bellis ramosa, Spilanthes pseudoacmella, Verbesina pusilla, Eclipta angustata, Eclipta arabica, Spilanthes wedelioides, Polygyne inconspicua, Eclipta patula, Eleutheranthera prostrata, Artemisia viridis, Eclipta erecta var. brachypoda, Chamaemelum foetidum, Bellis racemosa, Anthemis cotula, Anthemis viridis, Anthemis sulphurea, Ecliptica alba var. parviflora, Eclipta philippinensis, Eclipta thermalis, Eclipta dubia, Eclipta palustris, Eclipta simplex, Aganippea dentata, Eclipta prostrata var. zippeliana, Verbesina debilis, Paleista procumbens, Eclipta angustifolia, Eclipta hirsuta, Eclipta erecta var. latifolia, Eclipta adpressa, Sabazia leiachaenia, Eclipta alba var. prostrata, Eclipta procumbens, Wedelia psammophila, Anthemis abyssinica, Wiborgia oblongifolia, Cotula prostrata, Cotula alba, Eupatoriophalacron album, Eclipta erecta var. prostrata, Eclipta parviflora, Anthemis cotula-foetida, Sabazia anomala, Eclipta alba var. longifolia, Ecliptica alba var. prostrata, Maruta cotula var. lithuanica, Eclipta zippeliana, Eclipta dichotoma, Cotula debilis, Eclipta alba var. parviflora, Eclipta sulcata, Grangea lanceolata, Galinsoga oblongifolia, Anthemis galilaea var. hierosolymitana, Micrelium asteroides, Paleista brachypoda, Eclipta alba var. zippeliana, Abasoloa taboada, Eclipta longifolia var. linearis, Eclipta heterophylla, Anthemis cotula var. hierosolymitana, Eclipta punctata, Cotula oederi, Verbesina pseudoacmella, Eclipta oederi, Eclipta alba f. longifolia, Eclipta procumbens var. brachypoda, Amellus carolinianus, Anthemis cotuloides, Eclipta brachypoda, Ecliptica alba var. zippeliana, Ecliptica alba, Eclipta prostrata f. aureoreticulata, Eclipta strumosa, Eclipta longifolia, Eclipta alba f. zippeliana, Micrelium tolak, Eclipta erecta var. diffusa, Eclipta alba f. erecta, Ridan alba, Verbesina spicata, Eclipta erecta, Eclipta linearis, Eclipta pumila, Eclipta alba, Anthemis cotula subsp. lithuanica, Buphthalmum diffusum, Eclipta alba f. prostrata, Eclipta flexuosa, Acmella lanceolata, Anthemis variabilis, Clipteria dichotoma, Ceratocephalus wedeliodes, Eclipta prostrata var. dixitii, Ecliptica alba var. erecta, Eclipta alba var. erecta, Eclipta procumbens var. patula, Eclipta tinctoria, Eclipta nutans, Verbesina alba, Eclipta spicata, Verbesina conyzoides, Eclipta marginata
Traditionally used for
- Dizziness
- Ears & hearing
- Nose & throat
- Menstrual & women's health
- Energy & fatigue
Cautions & contraindications
- Bleeding disorders
- Diabetes
☯ TCM Properties
Nourishes Liver and Kidney Yin; Cools the Blood and stops bleeding; Darkens the hair and strengthens the teeth; Clears Heat from the Blood Level
Traditional Chinese Uses
Mo Han Lian (eclipta herb, false daisy) is a cool, sweet-sour herb used to nourish Liver and Kidney Yin and cool the Blood to stop bleeding. It is applied for patterns of Liver-Kidney Yin deficiency with premature greying, tinnitus, dizziness, and lower back weakness, and its Blood-cooling properties make it valuable for bleeding conditions from Heat in the Blood — including nosebleeds, hematemesis, and uterine hemorrhage. It is commonly combined with Nu Zhen Zi (ligustrum) in classical Yin-nourishing formulas.
Western Herbalism Properties
Pharmacological Effects
- Immunologic: Decoction increased thymus weight, peripheral leukocytes and carbon clearance in mice.
- Antihepatotoxic: Aqueous extract 300 mg/kg i.p. inhibited serum transaminase rise and histological damage from CCl4 (mice) and GalN (rats); no significant effect on acetaminophen injury.
- Antivenom: Ethanolic extract premixed with Crotalus durissus terrificus venom neutralized up to four lethal doses in mice; wedelolactone, sitosterol and stigmasterol neutralized three; aqueous extract reduced venom myotoxicity.
- Other: Sedative and analgesic effects in mice; powdered herb hemostatic.
Source: Zhu YP. Chinese Materia Medica: Chemistry, Pharmacology and Applications. Harwood Academic, 1998, p. 646.
Relationships
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Gallery
Botanical Description
Eclipta prostrata is an annual herb in the daisy family (Asteraceae), growing 10-60 cm tall, erect or spreading. Stems are stiff, cylindrical, and covered in rough hairs. Leaves are opposite, sessile, lanceolate to elliptic, 2-8 cm long, with rough surfaces and entire or slightly toothed margins. The small white flower heads are borne on long peduncles in the leaf axils. Florets include both ray and disc florets. When stems or leaves are broken, a black juice is produced that turns dark on exposure to air (characteristic of this species).
Moist and wet habitats including rice paddies, stream banks, roadsides, and disturbed areas; pantropical and subtropical weed found throughout Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Australia.
Eclipta prostrata is an extremely common pantropical weed. It is found on all tropical continents and many subtropical regions. No conservation concerns.
Active Constituents
Wedelolactone
CoumestanConcentration: the Chinese Pharmacopoeia marker; not less than 0.04% of the dried aerial parts by HPLC
The principal marker and the compound most of the pharmacology rests on. It is a direct inhibitor of IKK-beta, so it blocks NF-kB-driven transcription, and it has since been shown to inhibit soluble epoxide hydrolase. In animal work it is hepatoprotective in cholestatic injury, promotes osteoblast differentiation while suppressing osteoclastogenesis, and neutralises the phospholipase A2 and myotoxic activities of animal venoms.
Demethylwedelolactone
CoumestanThe demethylated congener of wedelolactone, consistently co-occurring with it in the aerial parts and used alongside it as a quality marker. It shares the antihepatotoxic and venom-antagonising activity of the coumestan class, and its glucoside is also reported from the plant.
Eclalbasaponins and ecliptasaponins (including ecliptasaponin II)
Oleanane-type triterpenoid saponinsThe dominant saponin series of the herb. Ecliptasaponin II has been shown to activate PPAR-gamma and thereby reduce endothelial apoptosis in a radiation enteritis model, which is the best-characterised single activity in this group. The saponins as a class also account for much of the herb's surface activity and its irritant potential at high oral doses.
Sulfated flavonoids (flavone sulfate conjugates)
Flavonoid sulfate estersAn unusual feature of this species: a family of sulfate-conjugated flavonoids that a 2024 LC-MS survey proposed as additional quality-evaluation markers, because their pattern separates authentic Eclipta prostrata material more sharply than wedelolactone content alone.
Luteolin and luteolin-7-O-glucoside
Flavone and flavone glycosideCommon flavonoid constituents of the aerial parts, contributing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in extract-level assays. They are not species-specific and should not be used to authenticate the drug.
Thiophene and bithiophene derivatives
Polyacetylene-derived thiophenesA small series of sulfur heterocycles, several of them new compounds described from this species, with reported antibacterial activity in vitro. Their presence is chemotaxonomically consistent with the Asteraceae.
Triterpenoids and sterols (including beta-amyrin and echinocystic acid derivatives)
Triterpenoids and phytosterolsBulk lipophilic constituents of the aerial parts. A 2020 phytochemical study isolated a further set of bioactive terpenoids from the species, so the terpenoid fraction is chemically richer than older monographs suggest.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Warfarin and other vitamin K antagonist anticoagulants
There is no human pharmacokinetic study of Eclipta prostrata with any anticoagulant, and this entry should be read as a caution rather than a finding. The concern is structural and pharmacological rather than observed: the coumestans are benzofuran-fused coumarins, and the herb's own traditional indication is bleeding, so both directions of effect are conceivable. Nothing in the published literature quantifies either.
Clinical note: Do not assume a direction of effect. If a patient on warfarin takes this herb, check INR within one to two weeks of starting or stopping it.
Ciclosporin, tacrolimus and other immunosuppressants
Wedelolactone is a well-characterised direct IKK-beta inhibitor and therefore blocks NF-kB activation, and it has separately been shown to inactivate macrophages by targeting soluble epoxide hydrolase. Both are immunosuppressive mechanisms demonstrated in vitro and in rodents. Whether oral doses of the crude herb reach the plasma concentrations used in those experiments has not been measured, so additivity in a transplant or autoimmune patient is inferred, not shown.
Clinical note: Reasonable to avoid in transplant recipients and in patients on biologic or calcineurin-inhibitor therapy, on the grounds that the interaction is unstudied rather than excluded.
Tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors and hormone replacement therapy
Coumestans are the classical phytoestrogen scaffold, and the herb behaves like a mild oestrogenic agent in the model where that would matter most: an aqueous Ecliptae herba extract improved bone metabolism in ovariectomised rats, and wedelolactone shifts the osteoblast-osteoclast balance through Wnt/beta-catenin and NF-kB. Receptor-binding data for the specific constituents of this species are thin, so the class inference is stronger than the species evidence.
Clinical note: Avoid in patients on endocrine therapy for hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer until receptor-level data exist.
Antivenom serum in snake or hymenoptera envenomation
Eclipta prostrata is a genuinely active antivenom plant: the extract and isolated wedelolactone antagonise phospholipase A2, myotoxic and haemorrhagic activities of snake venoms, and a 2026 study extended this to Apis mellifera venom. That real activity is the hazard. It is measured in vitro and in rodents at applied doses, has never been shown to clear systemic envenomation in a human, and its reputation in folk practice invites substitution for hospital antivenom.
Clinical note: Never a substitute for antivenom or for emergency care. Envenomation is a hospital problem; the herb has no established role in it.
Oral hypoglycaemic agents and insulin
Antidiabetic activity of Eclipta extracts and of its saponin fraction is reported repeatedly in rodent and enzyme-inhibition models and is summarised in the current reviews of the species. No human glucose data exist, so the additive risk with a hypoglycaemic drug is extrapolated from animal work.
Clinical note: If used in a diabetic patient, ask them to monitor capillary glucose more closely for the first two weeks.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 6–12 g | daily | — | adult | 中国药典 2020年版 一部 【墨旱莲】【用法与用量】6～12g。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, Vol. I. |
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 7 studiesRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
7
4 verified · 3 unverified
Show 7 studies
- Therapeutic effect of aqueous extract from Ecliptae herba on bone metabolism of ovariectomized rats
- Wedelolactone enhances osteoblastogenesis by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway but suppresses osteoclastogenesis by NF-κB/c-fos/NFATc1 pathway
- Wedelolactone alleviates cholestatic liver injury by regulating FXR-bile acid-NF-κB/NRF2 axis to reduce bile acid accumulation and its subsequent inflammation and oxidative stress
- Eclipta prostrata extract and wedelolactone antagonize Apis mellifera venom activities
- Eclipta prostrata promotes the induction of anagen, sustains the anagen phase through regulation of FGF-7 and FGF-5
- Ecliptasaponin II alleviates the radiation enteritis by activating PPARγ to inhibit the apoptosis of endothelial cells
- Effects of Eclipta prostrata on gut microbiota of SAMP6 mice with osteoporosis
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Therapeutic effect of aqueous extract from Ecliptae herba on bone metabolism of ovariectomized rats
Aqueous Ecliptae herba extract given to ovariectomised rats improved bone metabolic parameters relative to untreated ovariectomised controls, supporting the traditional use for weakened teeth and lumbar soreness in Liver-Kidney yin deficiency. This is a rodent oestrogen-deficiency model, not a study in postmenopausal women, and no fracture or bone mineral density endpoint in humans has been reported for the herb.
Wedelolactone enhances osteoblastogenesis by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway but suppresses osteoclastogenesis by NF-κB/c-fos/NFATc1 pathway
Wedelolactone acted on both arms of bone remodelling in cell culture: it promoted osteoblast differentiation through Wnt/beta-catenin and suppressed osteoclast formation through NF-kB, c-fos and NFATc1. This gives the ovariectomised-rat result a plausible molecular basis at the level of the isolated marker compound rather than the crude herb.
Wedelolactone alleviates cholestatic liver injury by regulating FXR-bile acid-NF-κB/NRF2 axis to reduce bile acid accumulation and its subsequent inflammation and oxidative stress
In a rodent cholestasis model wedelolactone reduced bile acid accumulation and the downstream inflammation and oxidative stress, acting through FXR with NF-kB and NRF2 downstream. It is the most mechanistically complete of the hepatoprotection studies behind the herb's reputation in liver disease, but it is an isolated compound in rodents and does not establish a role in human hepatitis or cholestasis.
Eclipta prostrata extract and wedelolactone antagonize Apis mellifera venom activities
Extends the plant's long-documented anti-snake-venom activity to honeybee venom: both the Eclipta prostrata extract and isolated wedelolactone antagonised venom-induced effects in the assays used. Useful confirmation that the antivenom activity is real and attributable partly to the coumestan marker, and useful precisely as a reason not to let the herb substitute for clinical treatment of envenomation.
Eclipta prostrata promotes the induction of anagen, sustains the anagen phase through regulation of FGF-7 and FGF-5
Topical Eclipta prostrata extract induced and prolonged the anagen phase of the hair cycle in mice, with FGF-7 upregulated and FGF-5 downregulated. This is the best-characterised experimental support for the classical claim that the herb darkens and strengthens the hair, but it is a mouse model of hair cycling with a topical preparation, not a trial of the oral drug in human alopecia.
Ecliptasaponin II alleviates the radiation enteritis by activating PPARγ to inhibit the apoptosis of endothelial cells
Ecliptasaponin II reduced radiation-induced intestinal injury by activating PPAR-gamma and limiting endothelial apoptosis. This is the clearest activity attributed to a named saponin of the species rather than to the coumestan fraction, and it points at a use the classical literature does not describe.
Effects of Eclipta prostrata on gut microbiota of SAMP6 mice with osteoporosis
Eclipta prostrata altered the gut microbiota of senescence-accelerated SAMP6 mice with osteoporosis, offering a second, microbiota-mediated route by which the herb might affect bone besides the direct osteoblast and oestrogen-like effects. Exploratory rodent work with no human counterpart.
Historical Texts
Xin Xiu Ben Cao (Tang Ben Cao)
Tang dynasty, 659 CEBen Cao Gang Mu
Ming dynasty, 1596Yin Pian Xin Can
Republican period, 1936References
- Feng L, Zhai YY, Xu J, Yao WF, Cao YD, Cheng FF, Bao BH, Zhang L. A review on traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology of Eclipta prostrata (L.) L. . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2019) [DOI]
- Timalsina D, Devkota HP. Eclipta prostrata (L.) L. (Asteraceae): Ethnomedicinal Uses, Chemical Constituents, and Biological Activities . Biomolecules (2021) [DOI]
- Ha NM, Hop NQ, Son NT. Wedelolactone: A molecule of interests . Fitoterapia (2023) [DOI]
- Chung IM, Rajakumar G, Lee JH, Kim SH, Thiruvengadam M. Ethnopharmacological uses, phytochemistry, biological activities, and biotechnological applications of Eclipta prostrata . Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (2017) [DOI]
- Sato R, Nishidono Y, Tanaka K. Comprehensive Analysis of Sulfated Flavonoids in Eclipta prostrata for Quality Evaluation . Molecules (2024) [DOI]
- Yu SJ, Yu JH, Yu ZP, Yan X, Zhang JS, Sun JY, Zhang H. Bioactive terpenoid constituents from Eclipta prostrata . Phytochemistry (2020) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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