A well-known herb with documented use as far back as the Middle Ages. Dried flowers make a famous beverage tea, traditionally used for colic, diarrhea, insomnia, indigestion, headaches, colds, fevers, and even nightmares. Flowers were also used as a diuretic. Experimentally well-studied: essential oil is antifungal and antibacterial.
References:
Alizadeh Behbahani B., Tabatabaei Yazdi F., Vasiee A., Mortazavi S.A. Oliveria decumbens essential oil: Chemical compositions and antimicrobial activity against the growth of some clinical and standard strains causing infection. Microb. Pathog. 2018;114:449–452.
Grieve, M. (Maud). A Modern Herbal; the Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-Lore of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs, & Trees with All Their Modern Scientific Uses. New York :Harcourt, Brace & company, 1931.
Tang X., Shao Y.-L., Tang Y.-J., Zhou W.-W. Antifungal Activity of Essential Oil Compounds (Geraniol and Citral) and Inhibitory Mechanisms on Grain Pathogens (Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus ochraceus) Molecules. 2018;23:2108
