| General
info
Brunfelsia is a genus of about 40
species. Linnaeus named the genus for early German herbalist Otto Brunfels
(1488-1534).
Botany
Erect, smooth shrub growing to a height
of 3-4 meters. Leaves are simple, green to yellowish-green, elliptic
to obovate, with entire margins, 5 to 10 cm long, pointed at both ends,
crowded on the ultimate twigs. Flowers are terminal or axillary, solitary
or in pairs, shortly stalked and fragrant. Calyx is green, ovoid, 6
mm long and 5-toothed. Corolla tube is about 4.5 cm long, slender and
straw-colored; the limb is white to yellow, oblique and unequally 5-lobed,
about 5 cm in diameter. The fruit is rounded, about 1.5 cm in diameter,
with a yellow and somewhat fleshy pericarp and containing numerous seeds.
Distribution
Recently introduced
to the Philippines.
Cultivated for ornamental purposes.
Parts used
and propagation
Fruit
Propagated by stem cuttings.
Uses
Folkloric
Fruit is astringent, used
as a tonic; the syrup used for chronic diarrhea.
In French Guiana, sugary fruit made into an astrigent syrup for diarrhea
Studies
• Cytoxicity:
In a Bangladesh study evaluating the cytoxicity activity 35 plant species
by the brine shrimp lethality bioassay, the methanolic extract of Brunfesia
americana showed moderate cytotoxicity with LC50 less than 10.00 ug.ml.
Availability
Ornamental cultivation. |
