Traditionally used for
- Dizziness
- Eye health
- Ears & hearing
- Nose & throat
- Cough & breathing
- Digestion
- Bowel health
- Menstrual & women's health
- Sleep
- Pain & joints
- Energy & fatigue
Cautions & contraindications
- Bleeding disorders
☯ TCM Properties
Nourishes and tonifies Liver and Kidney Yin; Cools the Blood and s tops bleeding
Traditional Chinese Uses
Mo Han Lian (Herba Ecliptae), the whole herb of Eclipta prostrata, is a sweet, sour, cool tonic entering the Liver and Kidney channels. It nourishes and tonifies Liver and Kidney Yin, addressing Yin-deficiency signs such as dizziness, blurred vision, tinnitus, insomnia, sore lower back and knees, and premature greying of the hair. Its most famous pairing is with Nu Zhen Zi in the classic formula Er Zhi Wan, which gently supplements Liver-Kidney Yin.
Because it also cools the Blood and stops bleeding, it is used for bleeding due to Yin deficiency with Heat and reckless movement of Blood, including coughing or vomiting of blood, nosebleed, bloody urine or stool, and uterine bleeding. As a cool, moistening herb it is used cautiously in Spleen-Stomach deficiency-cold with diarrhea.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Eclipta prostrata is a low-growing annual herb of the Asteraceae family, widespread across tropical and warm-temperate regions of Asia, the Americas, and Africa, typically inhabiting moist soils, rice-field margins, and ditches. The plant produces creeping to ascending branched stems up to about sixty centimeters long, often rooting at the lower nodes and clothed in stiff white appressed hairs. Leaves are opposite, sessile or nearly so, narrowly lanceolate, three to ten centimeters long, with entire to slightly toothed margins and similarly bristly surfaces. Small white daisy-like flower heads, about six to eight millimeters across, are borne singly or in pairs on slender peduncles in the upper leaf axils; the discs blacken upon drying or bruising, a feature giving the plant its common name 'false daisy' and its Chinese name referring to ink.
Active Constituents
Wedelolactone
CoumestanConcentration: the principal marker constituent of the aerial parts and the assay compound for the drug; most concentrated in the leaves rather than the stems, so leaf-to-stem ratio in a lot materially affects potency
The compound that carries most of the documented pharmacology of Mo Han Lian. It is hepatoprotective in several independent animal models, inhibits the IKK and NF-kappaB axis, and promotes osteoblastogenesis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells by way of METTL3-mediated m6A RNA methylation. Clinically the most important additional fact is that wedelolactone is a coumestan phytoestrogen: it transactivates oestrogen response elements through both ER-alpha and ER-beta and acts as an agonist at both, stimulating growth of oestrogen-receptor-positive cells and expression of oestrogen-responsive genes.
Demethylwedelolactone
CoumestanConcentration: the second major coumestan of the aerial parts, accompanying wedelolactone and likewise concentrated in the leaves
Studied alongside wedelolactone rather than separately, and shares its hepatoprotective profile. In a zebrafish thioacetamide liver injury model examined by spatial metabolomics and liver-specific transcriptomics, both coumestans acted on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease pathways. It should be assumed to share wedelolactone's oestrogen receptor activity in the absence of evidence to the contrary, since it is the same scaffold.
Eclalbasaponins and echinocystic acid glycosides
Oleanane-type triterpenoid saponinConcentration: a large and well-described group in the aerial parts and leaves; not individually standardised in the crude drug
The bulk saponin fraction of the herb, reported alongside the coumestans in every phytochemical survey of the species. They contribute to the hepatoprotective and antihaemorrhagic activity described for whole-herb extracts, which is a distinct point from the coumestan pharmacology because much of the animal hepatoprotection work uses whole extract rather than isolated wedelolactone.
Substituted thiophenes
Polythiophene (sulfur heterocycle)Concentration: characteristic minor constituents of the aerial parts; not quantified in the crude drug
A chemotaxonomically useful group for this species and a reason the herb has antimicrobial activity in vitro. Polythiophenes of this kind are also phototoxic in other Asteraceae, though no photosensitivity has been reported clinically for Mo Han Lian.
Flavonoids (luteolin, apigenin and their glycosides)
Flavone and flavone glycosideConcentration: not standardised
Contribute to the antioxidant capacity measured in aqueous and alcoholic extracts. They are unremarkable and are recorded so the profile is not read as coumestan-only.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Sphagneticola calendulacea (Wedelia calendulacea), the other Bhringraja
In the Indian herbal market Eclipta prostrata and Wedelia calendulacea (now Sphagneticola calendulacea) both carry the Ayurvedic name Bhringraja, and Wedelia is documented as an adulterant of and substitute for Eclipta on that basis. The substitution is not chemically neutral: the two differ substantially in total phenolic content, with reported values of roughly 382 mg gallic acid equivalents per 100 g for Wedelia against 105 mg per 100 g for Eclipta. Wedelolactone occurs in both Eclipta and Wedelia species, so a wedelolactone assay alone does not exclude the substitution and morphological or DNA-based identification is required. Practitioners buying Bhringraja-labelled material, or Eclipta from Indian supply chains, meet this as a real sourcing hazard rather than as a taxonomic curiosity. Potentilla supina has also been reported as a morphological adulterant in Chinese markets, distinguishable by its hollow upright stem and compound leaves against Eclipta's simple lanceolate leaves.
Clinical note: Order as Herba Ecliptae or Eclipta prostrata, not as Bhringraja. The species-defining field test is the blackish ink-like exudate from a broken or rubbed stem, which gives the drug its Chinese name; material lacking it should be rejected. Ask suppliers for botanical identification, not just a marker assay.
Tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors and hormone replacement therapy
Wedelolactone is a coumestan phytoestrogen and behaves as an agonist at both ER-alpha and ER-beta, transactivating oestrogen response elements and inducing the growth of oestrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer cells and the expression of oestrogen-responsive genes in vitro. The direction of that effect is the opposite of what tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor is prescribed to achieve. The evidence is cell-based; the systemic exposure to wedelolactone from a 9 to 30 g decoction has not been measured, so whether a clinically meaningful oestrogenic signal is achievable in a patient is unknown. A separate paper reports that a synthetic wedelolactone derivative inhibits growth of ER-mediated cancer cell lines, so the parent compound and its analogues should not be conflated.
Clinical note: Raise this before prescribing Mo Han Lian to a patient on adjuvant endocrine therapy for oestrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer, or with another hormone-sensitive tumour, and prefer an alternative Liver-and-Kidney-yin herb where one will serve. This is a caution to discuss and document, not an absolute contraindication, and it should not be presented to the patient as established harm.
Warfarin and other vitamin K antagonists
Wedelolactone is often loosely called a coumarin, and Eclipta is a haemostatic herb, so practitioners and software alike are prone to flagging this drug as a warfarin interactant by analogy with 4-hydroxycoumarin anticoagulants or with coumarin-rich herbs. The analogy is wrong on chemistry: wedelolactone is a coumestan, a fused benzofuran-coumarin, and coumestans are phytoestrogens, not vitamin K epoxide reductase inhibitors. There is no published evidence that Eclipta prostrata or wedelolactone alters INR, prothrombin time or warfarin pharmacokinetics in humans or animals, and no case reports. The traditional use of the herb is to stop bleeding, the opposite direction from anticoagulation, and that traditional claim is itself unquantified.
Clinical note: Do not withhold or dose-adjust warfarin on the basis of a coumarin misclassification. Equally, do not rely on Mo Han Lian to control bleeding in an anticoagulated patient: its haemostatic reputation has no controlled human evidence behind it. Monitor INR as usual when any new herb is introduced.
Dui Yao — Herb Pairs
The classical two-herb combinations this herb appears in, each with an action neither herb has alone.
Liver and kidney yin are nourished while blood is cooled and bleeding stopped, gently and without cloying.
Premature greying, dizziness and bleeding from yin deficiency.
Core pair of a classical formula — Er Zhi Wan, Yi Fang Ji Jie (Wang Ang)
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 6 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
6
2 verified · 4 unverified
Show 6 studies
- Hepatoprotective Effect of Wedelolactone against Concanavalin A-Induced Liver Injury in Mice
- Integrated spatial metabolomics and transcriptomics decipher the hepatoprotection mechanisms of wedelolactone and demethylwedelolactone on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Chinese Ecliptae herba (Eclipta prostrata (L.) L.) extract and its component wedelolactone enhances osteoblastogenesis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells via targeting METTL3-mediated m6A RNA methylation
- Wedelolactone induces growth of breast cancer cells by stimulation of estrogen receptor signalling
- Eclipta prostrata promotes the induction of anagen, sustains the anagen phase through regulation of FGF-7 and FGF-5
- Eclipta alba extract with potential for hair growth promoting activity
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
Hepatoprotective Effect of Wedelolactone against Concanavalin A-Induced Liver Injury in Mice
Pretreating mice with wedelolactone markedly reduced serum transaminases and the histological severity of liver damage in concanavalin A-induced immune-mediated hepatitis. One of the cleaner animal demonstrations that the hepatoprotective reputation of this herb tracks a specific isolated constituent rather than only whole-extract effects.
Integrated spatial metabolomics and transcriptomics decipher the hepatoprotection mechanisms of wedelolactone and demethylwedelolactone on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Wedelolactone and demethylwedelolactone, the two major coumestans of Eclipta prostrata, were studied in a zebrafish thioacetamide liver injury model using spatial metabolomics combined with liver-specific transcriptomics, to characterise their action on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease pathways. Notable for treating the two coumestans as a pair rather than assuming wedelolactone alone accounts for the herb's hepatic activity.
Chinese Ecliptae herba (Eclipta prostrata (L.) L.) extract and its component wedelolactone enhances osteoblastogenesis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells via targeting METTL3-mediated m6A RNA methylation
Both the whole Ecliptae herba extract and isolated wedelolactone promoted osteoblast differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, acting through METTL3-mediated m6A RNA methylation. This is the most specific mechanistic support available for the classical use of the herb in Liver-and-Kidney-yin deficiency patterns presenting with bone and skeletal weakness, and it uses the correctly identified species.
Wedelolactone induces growth of breast cancer cells by stimulation of estrogen receptor signalling
Wedelolactone acted as an agonist at both ER-alpha and ER-beta, transactivated oestrogen response elements, induced expression of oestrogen-responsive genes and stimulated the growth of oestrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer cells. This is the source for the oestrogenic caution recorded above, and it is the one piece of Eclipta pharmacology that points in a clinically unwelcome direction.
Eclipta prostrata promotes the induction of anagen, sustains the anagen phase through regulation of FGF-7 and FGF-5
Eclipta prostrata extract induced and sustained the anagen phase of the hair cycle in an animal model, with effects on FGF-7 and FGF-5 signalling. Relevant to the herb's traditional use for premature greying and hair loss, and correctly attributed to Eclipta prostrata rather than to the Eclipta alba synonym.
Eclipta alba extract with potential for hair growth promoting activity
A petroleum ether extract promoted hair growth in an animal model. Published under the name Eclipta alba, which is a synonym of Eclipta prostrata, so the material is the same species as this record despite the different binomial on the paper. Recorded because much of the hair-growth literature on this drug is indexed under the Eclipta alba name and is easy to miss or to mistake for a different plant.
Historical Texts
Xin Xiu Ben Cao (Newly Revised Materia Medica, also called Tang Ben Cao)
Tang dynasty, 659 CEReferences
- 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]
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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