HOME      •      SEARCH      •      EMAIL    •     ABOUT


Family Lamiaceae
Buntot-pusa
Pogostemon auricularius (L.) Hassk.

Shui zhen zhu cai

Scientifric names  Common names 
Dysophylla auricularia (L.) Blume Buntot pusa (Tag.)
Eusteralis auricularia (L.) M.R.Almeida  
Mentha auricularia Linn.  
Mentha foetida Burm. f.  
Pogostemon auricularius (L.) Hassk.  
Buntot-pusa is a common name shared by (1) Dysohylla auricularia (2) Pennisetum polystachum, foxtail (Engl.) and (3) Acalypha hispida, chenile plant (4) Pennisetum purpureum, Napier grass
Dysophylla auricularia (L.) Blume is a synonym of Pogostemon auricularius (L.) Hassk. The Plant List
Pogostemon auricularis is an accepted name. The Plant List

Other vernacular names
BENGALI: Acha-kamsen, Krom dung pow, Krom be, Rixom payo.
CHINESE: Shui zhen zhu cai.
INDONESIAN: Ke kucing (Aceh), Ketumpang (Javanese), Kambing kambing (Kalimantan).
MALAYSIAN: Kekucing
THAI: Saapraeng saapkaa.
VIETNAMESE: T[us] h[uf]ng h[if]nh tai, c[or] c[of].

Botany
Buntot pusa is an annual, hairy herb, 30 to 60 centimeters in height. Leaves are oblong, 2.5 to 7.5 centimeters long, stalkless or short-stalked, and acute of blunt at the tip. Flowers are small, borne in whorls or hairy spikes. Calyx is very small, 5 to 7 millimeters long, with triangular teeth; enlarging to a fruit. Corolla is usually pink, with a slender tube and hairy lobes. Nutlets are ellipsoid and smooth.

Distribution
- Abundant in open, wet places at low and medium altitudes from northern Luzon to Palawan and Mindanao.
- Also occurs in India to southern China and Malaya.

Constituents
- Aerial parts of P. auricularius yielded 4 cleistanthane type diterpenoids (C20), one of which is auricularic acid. Compounds shown to exhibit spasmolytic activity.
- Study yielded three novel diterpenoids from the whole plant of P. auricularis, namely: cleistanth-13,15-dien-18-oic acid and 7-hydroxy- and 7-acetoxycleistanth-13,15-dien-18-oic acids. (7)
- Aerial parts yielded two diterpenes characterized as 7-(3-methylbutyroxy)cleistanth-13,15-dien-18-oic acid and 7-senecioxycleistanth-13,15-dien-18-oic acid. (10)
- Phytochemical screening of leaves yielded alkaloids, glycosides, tannins and flavonoids. (11)

Properties
- Considered diuretic, antipyretic, antihelmintic, antidiarrheal, spasmolytic, and anti-cancer.

Parts used
Leaves, leaf juice, whole plant.

Uses
Folkloric
- Used in children, for simple stomach problems as pains and flatulence. The plant is pounded, alone or poulticed with lime, and applied to the abdomen.
- Poultice is also used for parasitism, kidney ailments, sore throat, headache, stomach pains and diarrhea.
- Malays used the plant for treating simple disturbances of the stomach in children.
- In Java, leaves reportedly used for stomach problems.
- In Bangladesh, used for stomach pains as warm leaf poultice; and as leaf juice in tetanus, as blood purifier, and for helminthiasis. Leaf juice used as eye drops in hysteria. Plant extract given with salt for diarrhea.
- In Indonesia, poultice of leaves used as cure for diarrhea, colic, worms, sores, kidney problems and sore throat. In Indo-China, decoction used for malaria; lotion used as rubefacients against rheumatism. (6)
- In Thailand, roots, stems or leaves used as diuretic and antipyretic. In Malesia infusion of leaves of several Pogostemon spp. taken to relieve painful menstruation. (6)
- Leaf juice used as eye drops in hysteria.
- In Bangladesh, extract given with salt in diarrhea by the Marma in Bandarban.

Studies
Diuretic Activity: In a screening of Indian plants for biologic activity, M auricularis showed diuretic activity. (1)
Spasmolytic Diterpenes:
Two diterpenes, isolated from the aerial parts of Pogostemon auricularis, have been characterized as 7-(3-methylbutyroxy)cleistanth-13,15-dien-18-oic acid and 7-senecioxycleistanth-13,15-dien-18-oic acid. (10)
Cytotoxic / Thrombolytic / Leaves:
Study evaluated a methanolic extract of leaves for cytotoxicy and thrombolytic activities. In Brine shrimp lethality assay, with vincristine as positive control, results showed a LC50 value of 10.51 µg/ml. Extract showed considerable thrombolytic activity exerting 42.1208% lysis of the blood clot. (11)


Availability
Wild-crafted.


Last Update June 2015


IMAGE SOURCE: / Illustration / Pogostemon auricularius (L.) Hassk. [as Dysophylla auricularia (L.) Blume] Wight, R., Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis, vol. 4(3): t. 1445 (1846) [Govindoo] / PlantIllustrations.org
SOURCES

Additional
(1)
Screening of Indian Plants for Biological Activity*-Part XI / B S Aswal et al / Indian Journal of b~nmc:ntal BlOlo8) / Vol 2:!. Sc:rtc:mber 19K4.pp487-.504

(2)
Inherited folk pharmaceutical knowledge of tribal people in the Chittagong Hill tracts, Bangladesh / Animesh Biswas, M A Bari et al / Indian Journ of Traditional Knowledge, Vol 9(1), Jan 2010, pp 77-89
(3)
Dysophylla auricularia / Medicinal Plants of Bangladesh
(4)
Pogostemon auricularis / Synonyms / The Plant List
(5)
Pogostemon auricularius (L.) Hassk. / Chinese names / Tropicos
(6)
Pogostemon auricularius (L.) Hassk. / Retnowati, E., 2001. Pogostemon auricularius (L.) Hassk.[Internet] Record from Proseabase. van Valkenburg, J.L.C.H. and Bunyapraphatsara, N. (Editors). / PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. http://www.proseanet.org.
(9)
Novel Cleistanthane Diterpenoids from Pogostemon auricularis / Falak A Hussaini, Sunita Agarwal, Raja Roy, Om Prakash, and Aboo Shoeb / Journal of Natural Remedies, Vol 51, No 2, pp 212-216, Mar-Apr 1988. / DOI: 10.1021/np50056a003
(10)
Spasmolytic diterpenes from pogostemon auricularis. / / Indian Journal Of Chemistry Section B Organic Chemistry Including Medicinal Chemistry. 29(2): 184-186,.
(11)
Phytochemical, Cytotoxic and Thrombolytic Activity of Methanolic Extract of Dysophylla auricularia leaves. / Nasir Uddin Rana, Imam Hasan, Naymul Karim, Md Hossan Sakib, Md Harun Or Rashid, Rana Dhar* / AJPTR
(12)

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.
Latest Updated Tagalog and English Lists of Philippine Medicinal Plants

Bahay Kubo

The Medicinal Plant Song
Alternative Medicine Dictionary
Un-Abbreviated Dialect Sources of Common and Local Names
Plant Names
List of Philippine Medicinal Plants with Chinese Names
HOME      •      SEARCH      •      EMAIL