Sanguinarea is a perennial herb, native to South America, and now naturalized in India. Stems are prostrate or erect, mostly 1-3 ft long, moderately branched, hairless below, generally hairy above and in leaf-axils. Leaves are inverted-lancelike or narrowly elliptic, acute at apex, narrowed at the base into a poorly defined petiole, hairless or velvety., mostly 2-6 cm long and 0.6-2.0 cm wide. Round or short-cylindrical flower heads lie stalkless in leaf axils, 5-10 mm long, 5-7 mm wide. Flowering: August.