Botany
Dilang-aso is an erect, much branched, hairy or nearly smooth, rather stiff herb, 20 to 80 centimeters in height. Leaves are oblong-obovate and 9 to 14 centimeters long, with a blunt tip and narrowed base; those of the upper part of the stem are smaller. Flowering heads are about 1.5 centimeters long, without stalks, occurring in clusters of 2 to 5, borne in the axils of the very much-reduced leaves, and arranged along the few, elongated, spikelike branches of the inflorescence. Involucral bracts are green, the outer being much smaller than the inner ones. Achenes are linear-oblong, about 6 millimeters in length, ribbed and hairy, and glandular between the ribs. Pappus hairs are four, dilated, laciniate-cleft at the base, and unequal, two being straight and two being longer and abruptly recurved and again curved upward. Corolla is white and about 7 millimeters long.

Distribution
- Common in waste places in settled areas generally, from the Batan Islands and northern Luzon to Mindanao, in most islands and provinces.
- Native to tropical America.
- Introduced from Mexico.
- Also occurs in the Marianne Islands, Taiwan, southern China, Taiwan, and Java.

Constituents
- Column chromatography yielded fine white crystals which appeared to be glaucolide-B, a sesquiterpene lactone previously isolated from the species of the genus Vernonia.
- Study yielded five new sesquiterpene lactones, spicatolides D-H. (See study below)
- Study of aerial parts yielded five new sesquiterpene lactones, spicatolides D−H (1−5), along with four known compounds, pitocarphin D (6), 8α-acetoxy-10α-hydroxy-13-O-methylhirsutinolide (7), spicatolide A (8), and 13-O-methylvernojalcanolide 8-O-acetate (9). (see study below) (13) 

Properties
- Vulnerary, antileishmanial, hepatoprotective, anticancer, antifungal, antidotal.
- Studies suggest hepatoprotective, antileishmanial, anticancer, antifungal properties.

Parts used
Leaves.

Uses
Folkloric
- In central Luzon, leaves used as topical for eczema.
- Leaves used as vulnerary.
- In India, bark used as antidote for snake bites.
- In Jamaica, used for fever, eye problems, and sprains.

Studies
• Antifungal / Cadinanolide: Study yielded a new sesquiterpene lactone from a chloroform extract of P. spicatus which was shown to exhibit moderate antifungal activity against Candida albicans and A. niger. (1)
• Hepatoprotective: Study evaluating the liver protective effect of E. scaber, E. mollis and P. spicatus on CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity showed a moderate effect with P. spicatus. (2)
• Spicatolides / Cytotoxic Sesquiterpene Lactones: Study yielded five new sesquiterpene lactones, spicatolides D-H with four known compounds. Tested against human cancer cell lines, compounds 1-4 showed cytotoxicity against the Hep3B and MCF-7 cancer cell lines. (3)
• Germacranolides: Study yielded two novel germacranolides, stigmasterol, and glaucolide B. (4)
• Teng-Khia-U / Anti-Inflammatory: 'Teng-Khia-U," a folk medicine from Taiwan, derived from E. scaber, E. mollis and P. spicatus, was evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity in CFA-induced chronic arthritis in rats. Results showed pretreatment with Teng-Khia-U significantly inhibited carrageenan-induced acute arthritis and significantly suppressed the development of chronic arthritis induced by CFA. (5)
• Antileishmanial / Sesquiterpene Lactones: Study yielded three moderately to strongly active compounds: two hirsutinolids (8,13-diacetyl-piptocarphol and the 8-acetyl-13-O-ethyl-piptocarphol) and ursolic acid. IC50 against Leishmania amazonensis axenic amastigotes were 0.3, 0.37, and0.99, while IC50 for amphotericin B is 0.41 uM. (7)
• Cytotoxicity Bioassay: Study evaluated P. spicatus extract for biologic activity using Brine Shrimp Bioassay using four concentrations (1p, 100, 500, 1000 ppm). Decoction and ethanol-water extract were inactive against brine shrimp. The absolute ethanol extract showed the presence of cytotoxic substances and better extraction of active components than hot water or mixture or mixture of ethanol and water. (12)
• Cytotoxic Sesquiterpene Lactones / Anticancer Against Hep3B and MCF-7 Cancer Cell Lines: Study of aerial parts of Pseudelephantopus spicatus isolated five new sesquiterpene lactones, spicatolides D-H (1-5) along with four known compounds from the EA extract of aerial parts. Compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic effects against five human cancer cell lines. Compounds 1, 3, and 4 showed cytotoxicity (IC50 <5µg/mL) against Hep3B and MCF-7 cancer cell lines. (13)
• Teng-Khia- U / Hepatoprotective: Teng-Khia-U is a Taiwanese folk medicine derived from entire plants of Elephantus scaber, E. mollis, and Pseudelephantopus spicatus. Study evaluated the hepatoprotective effects of water extracts of these three plants against beta-D-galactosamine (D-GaIN)- ad acetaminophen (APAP)-induced hepatic injury in rats. Results showed decrease in enzyme levels after treatment with the crude extracts of Teng-Khia-U. (14)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
An Antifungal Cadinanolide from Pseudoelephantopus spicatus / Consolacion Ragasa and John Rideout / CHEMICAL & PHARMACEUTICAL BULLETIN, Vol. 49 (2001) , No. 10 1359
(2)
The pharmacological and pathological studies on Taiwan folk medicine (VI): The effects of Elephantopus scaber subsp. oblanceolata, E. mollis and Pseudoelephantopus spicatus / Lin CC, Yen MH, Chiu HF / Am J Chin Med. 1991;19(1):41-50.
(3)
Cytotoxic Sesquiterpene Lactones from Pseudoelephantopus spicatus / Yu-Liang Yang, Sue-Ming Chang et al / J Nat Prod, 2007, 70, 1761-1765
(4)
Germacranolides from Pseudoelephantopus spicatus / Consolacion Ragasa, William Padolina et al / Phytochemistry, Volume 33, Issue 3, 18 June 1993, Pages 627-629 / doi:10.1016/0031-9422(93)85461-Y
(5)
Anti-inflammatory effects of Taiwan folk medicine ‘Teng-Khia-U’ on carrageenan- and adjuvant-induced paw edema in rats / Chin-Chuan Tsai and Chun-Ching Lin / Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 64, Issue 1, 1 January 1998, Pages 85-89 / doi:10.1016/S0378-8741(98)00108-1
(6)
Elephantopus spicatus (Juss. ex AuBlume) Cass. / Catalogue of Life, China
(7)
Antileishmanial sesquiterpene lactones from Pseudelephantopus spicatus, a traditional remedy from the Chayahuita Amerindians (Peru). Part III. / Odonne G, Herbette G, Eparvier V, Bourdy G, Rojas R, Sauvain M, Stien D. / J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Sep 1;137(1):875-9. Epub 2011 Jul 8.
(8)
Pseudelephantopus spicatus / Common names / Pacific Islands Ecosystems at Risk / PIER
(9)
Herbs and herbal constituents active against snake bite / Antony Gomex et al / Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 48, Sept 2010, pp 865-878
(10)
The isolation and structure determination of the major constituents of Ageratum conyzoides L. and Pseudelephantopus spicatus Rohr / Ticzon EC / SCINET-PHIL
(11)
Pseudelephantopus spicatus (Juss. ex Aubl.) Gleason / Chinese name / Catalogue of Life, China
(12)
Brine Shrimp (Artemia salina) Bioassay of the medicinal plant Pseudelephantopus spicatus from Iligan City, Philippines / Jeda A Lalisan, Olga Nuneza, Mylene Uy / International Research Journal of Biological Sciences, Vol 3(9): pp 47-50, Sept 2014
(13)
Cytotoxic Sesquiterpene Lactones from Pseudoelephantopus spicatus / Yu-Liang Yang, Sue-Ming Chang, Ching-Chung Wu, Pei-Wen Hsieh, Shu-Li Chen, Fang-Rong Chang, Wen-Chun Hung, Hamad H Issa, Yang-Chang Wu / / J. Nat. Prod., 2007, 70 (11), pp 1761–1765 / DOI: 10.1021/np070331q
(14)
Evaluation of hepatoprotective effects of Taiwan folk medicine 'Teng-Khia-U'  [1995] / Lin, C.C.Tsai, C.C.Yen, M.H. / AGRIS: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations