Spermacoce verticillata -Botón blanco

• The Plant List 
  • Angiosperms 
    • Rubiaceae 
      • Spermacoce

http://chalk.richmond.edu/flora-kaxil-kiuic/s/spermacoce_verticillata.html
family Rubiaceae
Spermacoce verticillata L. [syn: Borreria verticillata (L.) G. Meyer]
Weedy herb; leaves opposite, simple, linear, with bristle-like interpetiolar stipules; flowers mostly in a terminal or subterminal clusters; corollas tubular, white; ovary inferior.
Additional images:

• flowers and leaves
• terminal flower cluster, with butterfly
• flower cluster, close-up
• flower cluster, close-up
• leaves and fruit clusters

http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Spermacoce%20verticillata.pdf

Benefits.—Botón blanco is a forage plant, but not one highly favored by livestock. African material
was found to contain 0.2 percent alkaloid including borreine and borreverine (Burkill 2000).
At least part of the alkaloids are beta-carbolines and would represent a poisoning hazard if they were present in higher concentrations (Animal Science at Cornell University 2002). Botón blanco has a number of uses in herbal medicine, most frequently for skin conditions. In Africa, leaf extracts are used to treat leprous conditions, furuncles, ulcers, and gonorrheal sores (Burkill 2000, Environnement et Développement du Tiersmonde 2002). A lotion is prepared to relieve skin itches (Liogier 1990). Other preparations are used internally to treat diarrhea, as a diuretic in the treatment of schistosomiasis, and as an abortive.
An essential oil extracted from the leaves has been shown to inhibit Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus (Burkill 2000).