Botany
Damong-mabaho is a hairy or glandular herb, erect, simple or branched, very leafy, 30 to 60 cm in height. Leaves are obovate or oblanceolate, 5 to 12 cm long, 2 to 6 cm wide, smaller towards the top, stalked, and toothed or rarely lobulated at the margins. Flowering heads are about 8 mm across, borne on short axillary cymes, and collected in terminal, spikelike panicles. Involucre-bracts are narrow and hairy. Corolla is yellow and the pappus is white. Fruits are achenes, not ribbed, somewhat 4-angled and smooth.
Distribution
Widely distributed in open waste places at low and medium altitudes.
Also occurs in Tropical Africa, and in India to China and Malaya.
Constituents
- Study isolated two new glycosides, the triterpenoid glycoside 19α-hydroxyurs-12-ene-24,28-dioate and the phenol glycoside 2-isoprenyl-5-isopropylphenol from the whole plant of B. lacera. (2000)
Properties
Astringent, anthelmintic, antiscorbutic, febrifuge.
Essential oil considered analgesic, hypothermic and tranquilizing.
In Ayurveda, considered bitter, astriingent, acrid, thermogenic, errhine, anti-inflammatory, styptic, ophthalmic, digestive, anthelmintic, tonic, expectorant, diuretic, deobstruent and stimulant.
Parts used
Leaves, flowers.
Uses
Culinary
Culinary
Folkloric
- In the Philippines, a decoction of fresh flowers is given before meals for bronchitis - 30 gm in 1 liter of water, boiled to half of its volume.
- Expressed juice of leaves used as anthelmintic, especially in cases of threadworm, either internally or applied locally. Used as a invaluable remedy for Tinea Tarsi.
- Expressed juice of leaves, mixed with black pepper, given for bleeding piles. Also, used as febrifuge and astringent.
- Dried herb used as febrifuge; as astringent in hemorrhages; as deobstruent and stimulant.
- Astringent eye lotion prepared from the leaves.
- Plant used as diuretic.
- Useful for catarrhal affections.
- In West Africa, plant prescribed as antiscorbutic.
- In India, root kept in the mouth used for buccal diseases. Tincture used for bleeding piles.
Others
- Repellant: In the Konkan region of India, plant used to drive away fleas and other insects.
Studies
• Phytochemicals / Antimicrobial: Study of extract of air-dried leaves of Blumea lacera yieldedα-pinene-7β-O-β-d-2,6-diacetylglucopyranoside, 5,4′-dihydroxy-6,7,3′-trimethoxyflavone, and 3,5,4′-trihydroxy-6,7,3′-trimethoxyflavone. Compounds 1-3 showed moderate activity against Candida albicans, low activity against Trichophyton mentagrophytes.
• Cytotoxicity: Study of 16 Bangladeshi medicinal plants were studied for its cytotoxic effects. The methanolic extract of Blumea lacera showed the highest cytotoxicity against all tested cell lines, including three human cancer-cell lines (gastric, colon and breast).
• Antibacterial: Study on the antibacterial activity of 5 indigenous plant species showed greater inhibitory effect against Gram-positive bacteria. The largest zone of inhibition was recorded against Bacillus subtilis with the leaf extract of Blumea lacera.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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