Leaves are entire at the base and coarsely toothed at the apex. Taste is mucilagenous. Flowers are pedicillate, actinomorphic, pentamerous and complete'. Corolla consists of 5 petals, red in colour and about 3 inches in diameter. Cyanidin diglycoside from flowers,taraxeryl acetate and 8-sitosterol from the leafy stems and cyanidin, quereetin, hentriacontane,calcium oxalate, thiamine,riboflavin,niacin and ascorbic acid have been detected in the plant.
Flavonoids are also present.
The plant was extensively studied for its antifertility activity by Kholkute et al'. It was suggested that the plant inhibits pituitary gonadotrophic function. Antioestrogenic activity was also demonstrated by the same authors. It was effective in suppressing estrone-induced uterine growth'. The antifertility effect of the flower petals were also shown by Battu and Shantakumari7.