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Family Asteraceae
Botobotonisan
Sphaeranthus africanus Linn.
EAST INDIAN GLOBE THISTLE

Scientific names Common names
Sphaeranthus africanus Linn. Botobotonis (Ilk.)
Sphaeranthus alatus Blanco Botobotonisan (Tag.)
Sphaeranthus cochinchinensis Lour. Sambong-gala (Tag.)
Sphaeranthus glaber DC. Talababako (Bis.)
Sphaeranthus hildebrandtii Baker Tarutakako (Bis.)
Sphaeranthus microcephalus Vatke East Indian globe thistle (Engl.)
Sphaeranthus microcephalus Willd.  
Sphaeranthus ovalis Steetz  
Sphaeranthus sphenocleoides Oliv. & Hiern  
Sphaeranthus suberiflorus Hayata  
Boto-botonesan or phonetic variations are shared by three plants of different species: (1) Mutha (Cyperus rotundus) Boto-botones (2) Gatas-gatas (Euphorbia hirta) botobotonis, botbotonis, botonis (3) Botoncillo (Gomphrena globosa) botbotonis, botones-botonesan (4) Botobotonisan (Sphaeranthus africanus)
Sambong-gala is a local name shared by botobotonisan and sambong-gala (Pterocaulon redolens).
Sphaeranthus africanus L. is an accepted name. The Plant List

Other vernacular names
HINDI: Mundi, Gorkhmundi
PUNJABI: Ghundi, Khamadrus.
SANSKRIT: Mahamundi, Mundi, Hapus.
TAMIL: Kottak aranthai.
VIETNAMESE: Cỏ Chân Vịt Ấn, Cúc Chân Vịt Ấn

Botany
Botobotonisan is a more or less hairy or nearly smooth, rather coarse, erect or spreading, branched herb less than 1 meter in height. Stems and branches are prominently winged with three thin, wide, longitudinal structures which are the extension of the leaf blades. Leaves are obovate to oblong-obovate, 4 to 13 centimeters long, without stalks, and finely toothed at the margins. Heads are numerous, borne in dense, rounded clusters about 1 centimeter in diameter, and occur singly at the ends of erect, winged stalks. Flowers are greenish-white.

Distribution
- In open, rather damp waste places in and about towns at low and medium altitudes throughout the Philippines.
- Abundant in rice fields.
- Occurs inn tropical Africa, and Asia throughout Malaya to Australia.

Constituents
- Study yielded seven compounds: stigmasterol, chrysophenol D, 3,7-dimethoxy-4',5,6-trihydroxyflavone, chrysophenol C, 3alpha, 5beta-diangeloxoyloxy-7-hydroxycarvotanacetone, l-angeloxoyloxy-3-[4'-angeloxoyloxy-3'-methoxy]-2-propene and 1-angeloxoyloxy-3-[4'-isopentanoloxoyloxy-3'-methoxy]-2-propene.
- Flowers contains a volatile oil.

- Essential oil yields methyl chavicol, α-ionone, d-cadinene, p-methoxy cinnamaldehyde as major constituents and α-terpinene,citral, geraniol, geranyl acetate, ß-ionene, sphaerene as minor constituents.
- Dichlormethane extract of leaves yielded carvotanacetone derivatives (1, 3a, and 3b), chrysosplenol D (4), squalene (5) spinasterol (6) and stigmasterol (7). (8)
- Study of ethanolic extract of whole plant yielded seven compounds, namely: stigmasterol, chrysophenol D, 3,7-dimethoxy-4',5,6-trihydroxyflavone, chrysophenol C, 3alpha, 5beta-diangeloxoyloxy-7-hydroxycarvotanacetone, l-angeloxoyloxy-3-[4'-angeloxoyloxy-3'-methoxy]-2-propene and 1-angeloxoyloxy-3-[4'-isopentanoloxoyloxy-3'-methoxy]-2-propene.

Properties
- Anthelmintic, stomach tonic and stimulant, antiblenorrhagic.
- Bitter, aromatic, vermifuge, diuretic, emollient, resolvent.
- In Ayurveda, considered laxative, digestible, tonic, fattening, alterative, anthelmintic and alexipharmic.
- Plant has the drug odor of terebenthine which is transmitted to the urine and sweat.
- Studies have shown antioxidant, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, phytoremediative, antifungal, and antibacterial properties.

Parts used
Leaf juice, leaves, tops.

Uses

Edibility
- Leaves used as pot-herb.
Folkloric
- Used as anthelmintic, as powder, 2 to 4 grams, with a little molasses or syrup.
- Bitter and aromatic, used for diseases of the stomach and intestines for tonic and stimulant effect.
- Decoction of leaves and tops used as stomach tonic and also employed as antiblenorrhagic.
- In Ayurveda, plant pacifies vitiated vata, pitta epilepsy, migraine, jaundice, fever, cough, hemorrhoids, helminthiasis, skin diseases.
- In Bengal, plant used as tonic, vermifuge, and diuretic.
- In Indo-China, used as emollient and resolvent; applied as poultice to any ailing body part.
- Juice of leaves used as gargle in inflammation of the throat.
- Plant considered to have aphrodisiac potential. (4)
Others
- Aqueous extract reported as poisonous to American cockroaches.
- Plant used as soil fertility indicator.


Studies
Free Radical Scavenging Activity / Cytotoxicity:
Study of ethanolic crude extract of whole plant exhibited free radical scavenging activity and cytotoxicity against various carcinoma cell lines.
Carvotanacetone Derivatives / Antibacterial / Antifungal: Dichlormethane extract of air-dried leaves of Sphaeranthus africanus yielded four new carvotanacetone derivatives. Some compounds showed antibacterial activity against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa and antifungal activity against C. albicans, T. mentagrophytes and A. niger. (3)
• Known Biologic Activities of Constituents: Study of dichlormethane extract of leaves yielded constituents with known biologic activities. Chrysosplenol D, squalene, spinasterol and stigmasterol have been reported to have anticancer activities. Stigmasterol is known to lower plasma cholesterol and inhibit intestinal cholesterol absorption. Squalene is known to significantly suppress colonic ACF formation and crypt multiplicity, while also known to have cardioprotective effects via antioxidant and hypolipidemic properties. (see constituents above) (7)
• Cytotoxicity / Anti-Inflammatory / Aerial Parts: Study evaluated various extracts of aerial parts of Sphaeranthus africanus for cytotoxic activity using various cancer cell lines and anti-inflammatory activity via COX-2 expression in THP1 monocytes. The n-hexane and dichlormethane extracts showed cytotoxic activity. Two compounds were identified as carvotanacetone derivatives. (8)
• Remediation Study for Heavy Metal Soil Pollution / Phytostabilization of Lead: Study showed Sphaeranthus africanus has potential for stabilization of lead. (9)
• Cytotoxicity / Free Radical Scavenging: Study of an ethanolic extract of whole plant of Sphaeranthus africanus showed cytotoxicity against various carcinoma cell lines. The Isolated flavonoids (chrysophenol D, 3,7-dimethoxy-4',5,6-trihydroxy flavone, chrysophenol C) and 3alpha, 5beta-Diangeloxoyloxy-7-hydroxy carvotanacetone and showed free radical scavenging activity against DPPH radical. (see constituents above) (10)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Updated March 2018 / July 2014

IMAGE SOURCE: PHOTO / Sphaeranthus africanus - Photographer Fagg, M. / Australian Plant Image Index (APII)- Photo No. : dig.13426 Non-Commercial Use / Click on photo to see source image / Australian National Botanic Gardens
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Asteraceae - Sphaeranthus africanus / Collection des Vélins of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris / Pritzel 1325; Dunthorne 59; Blunt & Stearn pp. 158-160; Pierre Joseph Buchoz / Paris, Brunet, 1775-1780 / Meemelink

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Sphaeranthus africanus / Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants
(2)
Bioactive compounds of Sphaeranthus africanus Linn. Part II / Pornpan Sukpanyalert / DOI: 9746653148
(3)
New Carvotanacetone Derivatives from Sphaeranthus africanus / Consolacion Ragasa, Po-Wei Tsai et al /
Planta Med 2010; 76(2): 146-151 / DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1186031
(4)
PHARMACOLOGICAL POTENTIAL OF PLANT USED AS APHRODISIACS / Baljinder Singh, Vikas Gupta et al / Volume 5, Issue 1, November – December 2010; Article-016
(5)
Sphaeranthus africanus / Aromatic, Spice and Medicinal Plants / Contributor: Pankaj Oudhia / Hort Purdue
(6)
Sphaeranthus africanus / Synonyms / The Plant List
(7)
Chemical constituents of Sphaeranthus africanus / Consolacion Y. Ragasa, Dinah L. Espineli, Dennis D. Raga, and Chien-Chang Shen / Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, 2014, 6(7):2197-2200
(8)
Bioguided Isolation of Bioactive Compounds from Sphaeranthus africanus / Huyan Tran Thi, Olaf Kunert, San-Po Pan, Teresa Pirker, Nadine Kretschmer, Rudolf Bauer / Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dept of Pharmacognosy, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
(9)
DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW COST REMEDIATION METHOD F OR HEAVY METAL POLLUTED SOILS / Stalin Mkumbo / Thesis: Dec 2012
(10)
Bioactive compounds of Sphaeranthus africanus Linn. Part II /Pompan Sukpanyaleeert / Thesis: March 2018

It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page.

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