Botany
Kandikandilaan is an erect and branched half-woody
plant, 1 to 1.5 meters high. Stems are terete, the younger ones slightly angled.
Leaves are elliptic to oblong-ovate, 2.5 to 10 centimeters long, with pointed
tips and toothed margins, the base decurrent on the petiole. The spikes
are terminal, rather slender, 10 to 30 centimeters long, 3-4 millimeters thick, green and continuous.
Calyx is small, oblique, and 4-toothed. Corolla is deep blue, 1 centimeter long,
The fruit is enclosed in the calyx, appressed to and somewhat sunk in the rachis, smooth, oblong, and about 4 millimeters long.
 Distribution
- Common weed in open and
waste places at low and medium altitudes in settled areas throughout the Philippines.
- Native of tropical America.
- Now pantropic.
Constituents
- Phytochemical studies have yielded flavonoids, triterpenes, monoterpenes, iridoids, phytosterols, aromatic acids, GABA, dopamine and alkanes.
- Phytochemicals isolated include epigenol-7-glucoronide, alpha-spinasterol, stachytarphine, scutellarein, uroslic acid, scultellarein and verbascoside.
-
A glucoside, stachytarphine
has been isolated from the plant.
- An iridoid glycoside, verbascoside or acetoside, has been isolated from the plant, shown to be a powerful antioxidant phytochemical.
- A flavonoid, scuttelarein, has been isolated, with cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory and antiviral actions.
- Hopidulin, another flavonoids, is reported to be bronchodilator, antispasmodic and anti-asthmatic.
- Phytoscreening yielded phenolic compounds, tannin, saponins, terpenoids and flavonoid.
Properties
- Considered analgesic, antacid, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, digestive, diuretic; flowers, emollient, anti-ulcerogenic, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, hypotensive, immunomodulatory, oxytoxic, sedative and tonic.
- Secondary metabolites display oxytoxic, neuroprotective, antiviral, antibacterial, cardioactive and antitumor effects.
Parts utilized
Leaves, stems, roots.
Uses
Folkloric
- Decoction or roots are
abortive.
- Decoction of leaves are vermifuge to children.
- In the Antilles, juice of fresh leaves is emetocathartic.
- Decoction of leaves in enemas used to expel intestinal worms; also used
as purging vehicle for other vermifuges.
- Infusion of roots has been used for gonorrhea.
- Triturated fresh leaves used on ulcers. Used as maturative cataplasm for boils.
- Bruised leaves rubbed on sprains and bruises.
- In Brazil, used for coughs, fever, to expel
worms and promote menstruation; as a diuretic and laxative. Also used for rheumatism.
- In the West Indies, used to expel worms.
- Creoles use the leaf tea for dysentery.
- In North Nigeria, decoction used for dysentery. Also used as vermifuge.
- In Peru, used for diabetes.
- In Cuban herbal medicine, used as an abortive.
- In immigrant Haitian communities in Cuba, an infusion made from three whorls or tops of S. jamaicensis is used for children in the morning on an empty stomach as an anthelmintic.
- In traditional medicine, leaves and stem extracts used to prepare drugs for use as stomach tonic, for dyspepsia, allergies, asthma, fevers and liver problems. Externally, used for ulcers, sores, cuts and wounds.
Others
In the Bahamas, called the Voodoo plant
or voodoo flower.
In Trinidad, report of use of leaves as
high protein feed for horses.
 Studies
• Antidiarrheal / Antimicrobial:
The methanol extract of Stachytarpheta jamaicaensis leaves showed significant
antidiarrheal activity and moderate inhibitory activity against E coli,
Staph epidermis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
• Antioxidant / O2-Scavenging Activity:
Inhibitory effects of leaf extracts of Stachytarpheta jamaicensis
(Verbenaceae) on the respiratory burst of rat macrophages: Extract showed
potent O2-scavenging activity. Study suggest SJ may have potential pharmaceutical
value for immunologic diseases related to oxidative stress.
• Anti-Hypertensive / Bradycardic
Effect: Some Cardiovascular Effects of the Aqueous Extract
of the Leaves of Stachytarpheta jamaicensis L. Vahl: The aqueous extract
of SJ leaves caused a dose-dependent drop in blood pressure and heart
rate. The acute hypotensive effect could be partly caused by a negative
chronotropic effect of direct effect on vascular smooth muscles.
• Antinociceptive
/ Antiinflammatory:
The study of the ethanol extract of SJ showed significant dose-dependent
nociceptive activity in all nociceptive models tested. The extract also
showed significant antiinflammatory activity in both acute and chronic
models. The analgesic activity was assumed to be modulated via peripheral
and central mechanisms, partly involving the activation of the opioid
receptor system.
• Phytochemicals
/ Antimicrobial / Toxicity Study: Phytochemical study
yielded secondary metabolites including tannins, saponins and flavonoids.
Crude aqueous extract showed activity against B subtilis, E coli, C
albicans, S aureus, P aeruginosa, P vulgaris, P mirabilis. No toxicity
was found even at high concentrations.
•
Toxicity Study: A study on 20 Wister rats on
the effect of powdered SJ leaves, using serum biochemistry and ultrasonography
showed no toxicity, suggesting a wide therapeutic margin of safety.
•
Antimalarial :The ethanolic extract of Stachytarpheta
cayennensis exhibited significant schizonticidal activity comparable
to that of the standard drug, chloroquine. The antiplasmodial activity
confirms its folkloric use in the treatment of malaria.
•
Anti-Dyslipidemia / Anti-Atherogenic:The effects of Stachytarpheta jamaicensis tea on plasma lipid profile and atherogenic indices were studied in rabbits. Treatment caused significant decreases in plasma total cholesterol, LDL, VLDL and triglycerides with also significant decreases in atherogenic indices. The results suggest the use of TJ tea in the management of primary and secondary dyslipidemia.
•
Steroidal Glucosides: Study reported two novel steroid glucosides from the leaves of S. jamaicensis. The occurrence of steroidal glucoside in SJ may explain the use of the plant in phytomedicine for birth control, abortion, treatment of menstrual disorders and as a lactagogue.
•
Antimicrobial: Study showed more antimicrobial activity with the chloroform extract against gram positive organisms like Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and B. subtilis. The chloroform and alcohol extracts showed antifungal activity against C. albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
•
Lanostane Glycoside: Study of leaves isolated a new lanostane triterpenoid glycoside 16ß-(ß-D-glycopyranosyl-3-8,-dihydroxylanstan-5,22-diene-11-methoxy-1ß-yl-6-O-(2,3-dimethoxybenzoyl)-ß-d-glycopyranoside.
•
Antimicrobial / Cytotoxic: Root extract was found to inhibit most of the bacterial growth compared to leaves and stem extracts. In the study on cytotoxic effect, leaves extracts showed the highest inhibition on the growth of Hela cancer cells compared to the root and stem extract.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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