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 Botany:
· An erect, more or less branched, glabrous, succulent
herb, 0.4 to 1.4 m high.
· Leaves: simple or pinnately compound, the leaflets elliptic,
crenate, usually about 10 cm long, thick and succulent.
· Flowers: paniculate, pendulous. Calyx brownish or purplish,
3.5 to 4 cm long, cylindric. Corolla about 4 cm long, inflated
at the base, then constricted, the exserted parts reddish or
purplish, the lobes acuminate. Carpels 4, free or connate at
the base, attenuated into long styles; ovules very many. Stamens
8, in 2 series, inserted in the middle of the corolla tube.
Distribution
Widely distributed in thickets and
open places.
Also cultivated, flowering December to March.
Parts utilized
Entire plant; use fresh.
May be collected the whole year round.
Chemical constituents
High in antioxidant carotene.
Phytochemical studies yielded B-carotene, ricinoleic acid, myristic,
palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids, a-spiraterol, uronic acid
and B-sitosterol.
Properties
Slightly tart tasting,
Cooling, antiphlogistic-analgesic , antidermatosis, antiseptic.
Considered febrifugal, galactagogue, abortifacient.
Uses
Folkloric
• Poultice of pounded fresh
material to sprains, burns and eczema.
• Carbuncle, erysipelas.
• Acute conjunctivitis
• In other cuntries, used for treating acne vulgaris, dyspepsia,
liver problems.
• Decoction used for nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dysentery, cough,
bronchitis and diabetes.
• In Sri Lanka,
used for cystitis, gonorrhea, snake bite.
• In Ghana, salted
decoction used for hematemesis.
• In India, used
for gastrointestinal problems; also as cholagogue, abortifacient and
febrifuge.
• In Nigeria, for
headaches and vertigo.
• In Taiwan, for
hepatitis, bronchitis, asthma.
Others
• Used for animal feed supplement.
• Some places, leaves and young shoots eaten as vegetables.
• In Africa, used
for relishes, sauces and soups.
Studies
• Antimicrobial / Wound Healing
Activities: Study
on extract of leaves showed significant results in different parameters
of wound healing. The presence of sterols was also confirmed.
• Hepatoprotective: A study on the hepatoprotective effects of Taiwanese herb Alternanthera sessilis on liver damage induced by various hepatotoxins showed hepatoprotective
effects with a reduction of elevation of SGOT and SGPT .
• Ionone Derivatives / Antimicrobial: Chloroform extract of dried leaves yielded
a mixture of diasteromers of a new ionone derivative with low activities
against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Trichophyton mentagrophytes.
• Antioxidant: Study
showed ethanol extract to have 70% free radical scavenging activity.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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