Plants
Ruellia tuberosa
EOL Text
Whole plant: To treat bladder diseases and frequent micturition; decoction with Petiveria alliacea is drunk to "clean out" uterine tract (dilation and curettage) or as an abortifacient. Root: Infusion for kidney diseases; in a syrup for whooping cough; infusion or decoction for a diabetes remedy; tubers in a tea used for cleansing the blood. Root and Leaf: In a tea used for alleviating retention of urine and to remedy weakness.
French Guiana: ipeca batard. Guyana: bluebell, menow weed, minnie root. Surinam: waterkanon, watrakanoe, watra kanung, watra kanun.
Ruellia clandestina L.
Distribution: A native of Tropical America; introduced and naturalized in Africa, Pakistan, India to S.E. Asia.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=220011777 |
Chile Central
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Pablo Gutierrez, IABIN |
Source | No source database. |
Tropical America, naturalised in India and Malaysia.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=110&taxon_id=220011777 |
An erect, up to 60 (-70) cm tall herb with stout, 4-angled stems, swollen and purplish at the nodes, tender parts sparsely hairy. Roots slender, elongated, tuberous. Leaves with up to 2 cm long petiole; lamina oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, 5-9 (-10) x 2-4 cm, shining, basally cuneate to attenuate, entire to ± undulate, obtuse to somewhat acute, often mucronulate. Flowers shortly pedicellate, blue-violet, showy, 5-5.5 cm long, c. 3.5 cm across, solitary or in 1-3-flowered, terminal or axillary cymes; bracts and bracteoles linear-lanceolate, c. 5 mm long. Calyx lobes ± equal, linear, 1.3-2 cm long, ciliate, acute. Corolla pubescent outside, tube c. 3.5 cm long, abruptly narrowed at base, limb 5-lobed, lobes ± equal, ovate, c. 1.5 cm long, patent. Stamens with oblong-sagittate, c. 4 mm long, puberulous anthers. Ovary oblong, c. 4 mm long, glabrous; style 2.3-2.5 cm long. Capsule oblong, 2.2-3 cm long, glabrous or scabrescent, 24-28-seeded, minutely beaked at tip. Seeds flattened, orbicular, c. 2 mm across, hairy.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=220011777 |
200 m
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=110&taxon_id=220011777 |
Fl. Per.: Almost throughout the year.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=220011777 |
Ruellia tuberosa, also known as Minnie Root, Fever Root, Snapdragon Root and Sheep Potato (Thai: ต้อยติ่ง), is a species of flowering plant in the Acanthaceae family. Its native range is in Central America but presently it has become naturalized in many countries of tropical South and Southeast Asia.[3]
It is a small biennial plant with thick fusiform tuberous roots and striking funnel-shaped violet-colored flowers. It reaches an average height of about 25 cm in moist and shady environments. It grows often as a weed even in ruderal habitats. Its names Popping Pod, Duppy Gun and Cracker Plant come from the fact that children like to play with the dry pods that pop when rubbed with spit or water.[4]
In animal models, this plant has antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory properties.[5] In folk medicine[6] and Ayurvedic medicine[7] it has been used as a diuretic, anti-diabetic, antipyretic, analgesic, antihypertensive, gastroprotective, and to treat gonorrhea.[8] It is also used as a natural dye for textiles.[9]
Some butterfly species, like the Lemon Pansy (Junonia lemonias) and the Mangrove Buckeye (Junonia genoveva), feed on the leaves of Ruellia tuberosa.
See also[edit]
- 21540 Itthipanyanan, an asteroid named after the author of an award-winning study on Ruellia tuberosa
References[edit]
- ^ Ruellia tuberosa en PlantList
- ^ Ruellia tuberosa - Minnie Root
- ^ Yang Mekar ditamanku - Fever Root; Ruellia tuberosa, Linn.
- ^ Jeannette Allsopp, Dictionary of Caribbean English usage, University of the West Indies Press, 2003, ISBN 978-976-640-145-0
- ^ Alam, M. Ashraful; Subhan, Nusrat; Awal, M. Abdul; Alam, M. Shohidul; Sarder, Mokaddez; Nahar, Lutfun; Sarker, Satyajit D. (2009). "Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory properties of Ruellia tuberosa". Pharmaceutical Biology 47 (3): 209. doi:10.1080/13880200802434575.
- ^ Roger Graveson's The Plants of Saint Lucia: Acanthaceae
- ^ H. Panda, Handbook On Ayurvedic Medicines With Formulae, Processes And Their Uses, National Institute of Industrial Research, 2002, ISBN 81-86623-63-9
- ^ Lans C.A., Ethnomedicine as used in Trinidad and Tobago for urinary problems and diabetes mellitus; J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed. 200
- ^ Effect of Chitosan and Mordants on Dyeability of Cotton Fabrics with Ruellia tuberosa Linn.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ruellia_tuberosa&oldid=644955600 |