Tie Xian Cai

Acalypha australis is a slender, erect annual herb of the Euphorbiaceae, widespread as a weed of fields, roadsides, and disturbed open ground across East and Southeast Asia and parts of Australia. It grows 20–50 cm tall, with finely pubescent, longitudinally striate stems often tinged reddish below. Alternate, long-petioled leaves are ovate-lanceolate to rhombic-ovate, 3–9 cm long, coarsely serrate, with three to five basal veins. The plant is monoecious: small, apetalous green flowers are crowded into axillary spikes, the few female flowers seated at the base inside a conspicuous, leafy, fan-shaped, deeply toothed bract that enlarges in fruit and gives the plant its characteristic appearance. The schizocarpic capsule contains three small smooth seeds. The entire above-ground plant is gathered in summer or early autumn and dried for medicinal use.