| Botany
Erect and tufted perennial herb with
a thick creeping rootstock, growing to a height of 0.5 to 1.5 meters.
Leaves are narrow lanceolate, sword-shaped, 40-60 cm long, 2-4 cm wide,
and overlapping at the base. Flowers are numerous and pedicelled, 5-6
cm across, yellowish outside, reddish yellow with a dark spot inside.
Seeds are shiny and almost spherical.
Distribution
Planted for ornamental purposes, flowering
most of the year..
Parts utilized
Rhizomes.
Properties
and constituents
Bitter and acrid.
Aperient and resolvent.
Expectorant, deobstruant, carminative.
Uses
Folkloric
Rhizomes used as expectorant.
Used for purifying the blood, for liver nad pulmonary complaints.
In traditional Chinese medicine, used for throat conditions, cough,
wheezing, bronchitis and mumps.
Studies
• New flavone and
isoflavone glycoside from Belmacanda chinensis
• Antiproliferative / Anticancer:
Phenolic constituents of rhizomes of
the Thai medicinal plant with proliferative activity for two breast
cancer lines – Three new compounds were identified–
belalloside A, belalloside B and belamphenone along with other compounds
resveratrol, iriflophenone, irisflorentine, tectoridin, among the 13
others. Results showed two isolates to have proliferation stimulatory
activity against human breast cancer cell lines..
• Antifungal: A
study on the antifungal activity of Belamcanda chinensis isolated a
compound identical to tectorigenin (5,7-dihydroxy-3-(4-hydroxy phenyl)-6-methoxy-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one).
This compound showed marked antifungal activity against dermatophytes
of the genera Trichophyton.
• Phytoestrogens / Anticancer:
Study demonstrated a role for tectorigenin and irigenin in regulating
the number of prostate cancer cells by inhibition of proliferation through
cell cycle regulation.
• Hepatoprotective / Antioxidative:
Study of tectorigenin and tectoridin isolated from
BC rhizomes was shown to have antioxidative and hepatoprotective activities
in CCl4-intoxicated rats.
Availability
Cultivated.
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