Botany
Trompang elepante is an annual, erect, branched, hirsute plant, 15 to 50 centimeters
high. Leaves are opposite or alternate, ovate to oblong-ovate,
somewhat hairy, acute or acuminate, base decurrent along the
petiole, 3 to 8 centimeters long. Flowers are small, and borne on one side of curved, terminal, or leaf-opposed spikes which are 3 to 8 centimeters long. Calyx is green. Corolla is pale lavender to nearly white, funnel-shaped, and about 5 millimeters long, with a slender and cylindric tube and the limb 3 to 3.5 millimeters in diameter. Stamens are 5,
inserted on the corolla tube. Ovary completely or imperfectly
4-celled, 4 ovules, style terminal or leaf opposed, 3 to 10 cm
long, flowers all in one side, the lower ones opening first. Fruit id 4 to 5 millimeters long, composed of 2, ovoid, beaked nutlets.
Distribution
- A common weed in waste places and settled areas throughout the Philippines at low altitudes.
- Pantropic in distribution.
Parts
used
· Entire plant.
· May be collected throughout the year.
· Rinse, use fresh.
Constituents
· Stems and leaves contain tannin and an alkaloidal principle.
· Study isolated a major alkaloid, heliotrine, from the seed of
Heliotropium indicum. and was found to have ganglion blocking activity.
· Phytochemical screening yielded phytosterols, alkaloids, saponins, and phenolic compounds.
· Phytochemical screening of various extracts of aerial parts yielded alkaloids, saponins, tannins, glycosides, and flavonoids.
Properties
· No taste, cooling effect, insecticide-antidermatosis.
· Leaves are emollient and diuretic.
· Drug causes contraction of muscular fibers, mucous membranes and other tissues.
Uses
Folkloric
· In the Philippines, decoction of dried roots used as emmenagogue.
· Few seeds, masticated and eaten, said to be a good stomachic.
· Skin pruritus, scabies: use pounded fresh material (quantity
sufficient combine with kerosene applied over the afflicted area.)
· Concentrated decoction may also be used as external wash over
afflicted area.
· Decoction of leaves used for washing cuts and sores; also used for the treatment of cholera.
· Decoction of leaves used as pectoral and antiscabious.
· Poultice of pounded leaves or bruised leaves applied to wounds
and boils; also, inflamed joints.
· Juice of leaves used for facial acne, gum-boils, sores and
wounds.
· Sap of leaves, mixed with salt, used for clearing vision.
· Plant used for ear and skin infections.
· Leaves used for poulticing herpes and rheumatism.
· Decoction of leaves and flowers used as gargle for sore throats
and tonsillitis.
· Flowers in small doses are emmenagogue; in large doses, abortive.
· In Mexico, decoction of roots or any plant part used for asthma.
· In Liberia, considered and used as "erysipelas" plant.
· In India, juice of leaves used for treating sores and insect bites.
· Leaf juice given to infants for cough.
· In Costa Rica, leaves are crushed and used as resolvent for abscesses and furuncles.
· In Indo-China, decoction of leaves used for urticaria.
· In Nigeria, used
for fevers and ulcers.
· Sino-Annamites used the plant for beri-beri.
· In West Africa,
used for vomiting, amenorrhea, high blood pressure; sap applied to gumboils,
clean up ulcers and for eye infections.
· In Sierra Leone ,
decoction of leaves used for washing new-born babies.
· In Senegal, leaf
powder used for dermatitis, eczema, impetigo in children.
· In Indonesia,
leaf decoction is used for thrush; poultices used for herpes and rheumatism.
· In Thailand,
traditionally used for wound healing.
· In Taiwan, a
folk remedy for sore throat and lung diseases.
 Studies
• Gastroprotective
/ Antimicrobial: Study of the aqueous extracts of dried
leaves of Heliotropium indicum showed dose-dependent gastroprotective
effects.
• Wound Healing:
(1) Study of 10% topical application increased the percentage of wound
contraction, increased tensile strength and decreased time of healing
from rapid epithelization and collagenization. (2) Ethanolic extract
of HI showed to have better wound healing activity than P zeylanicum
and A indica. (3)Study showed significant promotion of wound healing with methanol and aqueous extracts. In the wound infection model (Staph aureus and P. aeruginosa), the methanol extract showed significant healing activity compared to standard nitrofurazone.
• Anti-Tumor: Isolated
oxide of alkaloid indicine from HI showed significant anti-tumor activity
in carcinosarcoma, leukemia, and melanoma tumor systems.
• Anti-Inflammatory:
(1) Study of H indicum produced significant antiinflammatory effect in both
acute and subacute models of inflammation, with activities comparable
to acetylsalicylic acid and phenylbutazone respectively. (2) Petroleum and ethanol extracts exhibited considerable anti-inflammatory activity compared with ketorolac trimethamine as standard.
• Anti-Tuberculosis:
Study of the volatile oil from the aerial parts of HI showed significant
antituberculosis activity against M tuberculosis. The major constituents
were phytol, e-dodecanol, and ß-linalool.
• Anti-Tumor: Extract
study yielded an active principle, an N-oxide of the alkaloid indicine,
which showed significant activity in several experimental tumor systems.
• Anti-Proliferative:
One of nine Thai medicinal plants studied on human breast adenocarcinoma
cell line; all extracts showed IC50 in the potential range for activity
against cancer cells.
• Immunostimulant Effect:
Dried leaves extract significantly increased in vitro phagocytic index and lymphyocyte viability in all assays, increase in antibody titer and delayed-type hypersensitivity in mice. Results conclude a dose-dependent immunostimulant effect, probably due to the alkaloid content or combination of other components.
• Gastroprotective Effect:
Phytochemical analysis yielded alkaloid, saponins and tannins. A gastroprotective function is through its ability to mobilize endogenous prostaglandins in the gastric mucosa, and may be in part due to tannins and saponin constituents.
• Repellent Effect:
In a search for insecticides and antifeedants of plant origin against Utetheisa pulchella, H indicum killed 56% of the young larvae but did not affect fifth- and sixth-instar larvae.
• Antimicrobial / Phytochemical Screening:
Antimicrobial screening of various extracts of aerial parts showed significant zones of inhibition against 70% of the test organisms. Extracts yielded alkaloids, saponins, tannins, glycosides, and flavonoids while phobotamins, steroids, coumarin, and cardiac glycosides were absent in all the crude extracts.
• Analgesic / Stem:
Study of hydroalcoholic extract of the stem of H. indicum in a hot plate model showed significant analgesic effect compared to the standard drug Diclofenac.
Toxicity
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) is found virtually in all
plants in the Boraginaceae family. PAs have been shown to cause toxic
reactions in humans, primarily veno-occlusive disease, when taken as
herbal medicine or with food. It has also believed to cause liver damage.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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