| Botany
Smooth, perennial herb, 30-60 cm in
height, half woody at the base, creeping and rooting at the lower part.
Roots have a white balsamic exudation. Leaves are smooth, opposite,
narrowly elliptic or lanceolate, 5-8 cm long, triplinerved, pointed
at both ends, distantly toothed or nearly entire margins. Flowering
heads are 6-12 mm long, with about 20 pink flowers, 6-7 mm long.
Distribution
Widely distributed in the Philippines.
Occasional garden cultivation.
Propagated by cuttings.
Parts utilized
Leaves, flowers, whole plant.
Properties
and chemical constituents
Plant chemicals include: cineol, alpha-phellandrene,
alpha-terneol, ayapanin, ayapin, borneol, coumarin, sabinene, umbelliferone
among many others.
Leaves contain a volatile oil, ayapana oil.
A rich source of naturally occurring coumarin chemicals.
Hemarin, one of the coumarins is used as an anti-tumor remedy in herbal
medicine.
Leaves are sudorific, tonic, febrifuge, alterative, stomachic and antiscorbutic.
Antitussive, anticoagulant, depurative, cicatrizant, antitumorous and
antiseptic.
Similar to chamomile in effects; stimulant and tonic in small doses,
laxative in quantities.
Uses
Folkloric
Leaves used as a diet drink with its
agreeable and spicy taste.
Bruised leaves used for cleaning surfaces of foul smelling ulcers.
As infusion. used for dyspepsia, other bowel and lung problems.
Hot infusion is emetic and diaphoretic.
Bitter leaves used for fever, colds and diarrhea.
Leaves applied to forehead for relieve headaches.
Used for cuts, scrapes and wounds.
Peruvian indians takes
the leaf and stem for colic, stomach pains, edema.
Poultice of leaves used for wounds and hemorrhages.
An infusion of the leaf and stem used as digestive stimulant.
Believed to be antineoplastic and used for cancerous tumors.
In Argentina, used to
stimulate menstruation.
In Brazil, leaf juice
is swished around the mouth for gingivitis and mouth ulcers.
In the Amazon, leaf juice is used for snake bites, as a sedative and
for wound ulcers.
In French Guiana, used
for nausea and vomiting caused by malaria.
In Trinidad, the plant
is used for chest olds, constipation, fevers, pneumonia and yellow fever.
In Malaya, used for bronchitis
and diarrhea.
In the Andes and inter-Andean
valleys, used as hepatic stimulant and diuretic; leaves used for asthma
and as expectorant.
In Trinidad and Tobago,
used as anthelmintic.
Studies
• Weak antifungal activity (Maritius study).
• Ethanol extract of plant showed activity against Bacilus subtilis.
• Weak activity against several fungal strains with leaf essential
oil (India study).
• Antimicrobial results from essential oil of flowers. (India)
• Antibacterial and antiparasitic and anthelminthic actions from
essential oil of flowers. (India)
• CNS depressant, analgesic and sedative effects on mice studies.
• Antimicrobial Activity: (1) Results
showed that crude leaf extracts of Eupatorium triplinerve has antibacterial
and antifungal properties. (2) Study of extracts of
leaves of Eupatorium ayapana showed the petroleum ether extract to have
higher antibacterial and antifungal activity than the methanolic extract.
• Essential Oil / Thymohydroquinone: Study investigated the leaf oil composition. Three essential oil samples showed a high percentage of the aromatic compound thymohydroquinone dimethyl ether.
• Hepatoprotective / Antioxidant: Study of methanol extract of E ayapana leaves in Wistar albino rats showed decrease of the activity of serum enzymes, bilirubin, uric acid and lipid peroxidation. Results suggest that MEEA possess hepatoprotective and antioxidant properties.
• Anthelmintic: Essential oil from the flowers of Eupatorium triplinerve has been shown to possess good efficacy against Ascaris lumbricoides and Taenia solium (Garg, S.C., Nakhare, S., 1993. Studies on the essential oils from the flowers of Eupatorium triplinerve. Indian Perfumer 37, 318-323).
Caution
• Anticoagulant Effect: Ayapana leaves contain naturally
occurring coumarins with its blood thinning and anti-coagulant effect.
A patient on blood thinning medications should avoid the concomitant
use of ayapana and should consult a physician.
Availability
Wildcrafted.
Commercial: extracts in the cybermarket
|
