The genus Euphorbia, a plant called Euphorbia helioscopia, is distributed in southwestern Shanxi, Henan, southern Shaanxi, southern Gansu, Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Guizhou, and central to northwestern Yunnan in China. It is also found in Myanmar, Bhutan, and India. It has the effects of moistening the lungs, relieving cough, eliminating dampness, and killing insects. It is mainly used to treat chronic cough, bone hot flashes, scabies, and lice.
It is a perennial herb with a short rhizome. The roots are clustered, thick and fleshy, with a swollen and spindle-shaped tip. The stem is erect, 30-60 cm tall, green, cylindrical, hollow, with many branches in the lower part and shorter internodes in the upper part. Leafy branches are clustered, flat, sickle-shaped, gradually pointed at the tip, with prominent midribs, green and shiny, 6-8 mm long and about 1 mm wide. The leaves degenerate into scale-like leaves, very small and membranous. The flowers are monoecious, solitary or paired in the leaf axils; the flower stalks are slender and weak, 10-15 mm long, with a joint in the middle; the flowers are small, bell-shaped, with 6 sepals; 6 stamens are borne at the base of the sepals; 1 pistil, with a 3-chambered ovary. The fruit is spherical, 5-7 mm in diameter, and black when mature.
It grows in shady and fertile soils, often found in undergrowth at the foot of mountains. It is distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi, Henan, Hubei, and other places. It is found in Sichuan and Yunnan.
