Blepharispermum petiolare DC. in Wight, Contrib. Bot. 12. 1834; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India: 3: 276. 1881.

Shrubs, erect or scrambling; stems divaricately branched, furrowed, brown with scattered lenticels. Leaves ovate, unequal at base, acute or obtuse, margins slightly revolute, 5.5 - 11 x 2 - 6 cm, membranous; petiole 0.8 - 1 cm long. Heads compound, 0.8 - 1.8 cm across, 2 - 5 on long peduncled corymbs; peduncle ca 7 cm long, quadrangular, laterally compressed, subtended by an ovate, acute bract. Involucral bracts 1 - 2-seriate; outer flat or very slightly concave, keeled on the back, each bearing a single female floret; inner bracts 3-toothed, strongly plicate, enfolding a hermaphrodite floret. Outer florets with filiform corolla, ca 1.8 mm long, 4-toothed. Corolla of disc florets ca 3 mm long, 5-toothed. Achenes of female florets dark brown, oblanceolate, fertile, ca 3 mm long, slightly curved, sharply 4 - 5-angled, strongly ciliate on the angles, truncate at apex bearing two stiff hairs; those of disc florets linear, ca 1.5 mm long, glabrous, sterile, epappose.

Fl. Oct. - Dec. & Fr. Dec. - April.

Distrib. India: W. Ghats, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Sri Lanka.