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Botany
· A perennial herb,
the leaves of which occur in a rosette near the ground.
· Leaves: oblong or oblong ovate, 5 to 10 cm long, with
entire or toothed margins, usually 5-nerved, and borne on petiole
often as long as the leaf blades.
· Flowers: usually in crowded or erect, slender spikes,
6 to 12 cm long; corolla small and smooth, with the lobes spreading
or reflexed. Sepals ciliated.
· Fruits: capsules, ovoid, about 3 mm long and containing
2 cells. Each cell has 4 to 8 angular, very minute seeds.
Distribution
Found in cultivation and occasionally on wastelands at medium
altitudes.
Parts
utilized
· Seeds and leaves.
· Harvest the seeds when fruits are ripe, fully grown
with a plump and shiny.
· Sun-dry.
Constituents
Citric acid; aucubin;
glucoside; invertin and emulsin.
Contains polysaccharides, lipids, caffeic acid derivatives, flavonoids,
iridoid glycosides and terpenoides.
Properties
• Slightly
sweet, cooling.
• Considerede Antidote, antipyretic, astrignent, diuretic, laxative,
lymph deobstruent, ophthalmic, stomachic, vermifuge.
• Studies have revealed Aucubin, a glycoside, reported as a powerful
antitoxin.
• Phytochemical studies have yielded apigenin, baicalein, benzoic
acid, chlorogenic acid, citric acid ferulic acid, salicylic acid, ursolic
acid.
Uses
Nutrition
Edible: Leaves, roots, seeds.
Young leaves, raw in salad or cooked as pot herb.
Rich in vitamin B1 and riboflavin.
Folkloric
· Boils, furuncles, abscesses:
Cover the lesion with fresh crushed material.
· Anuria and dysuria due to beriberi: Concentrated decoction
of the whole plant or seeds. Use 9 to 15 gms of the whole plant or 6
to 12 gms of seeds.
· Severe cough with plenty of phlegm which cannot be smoothly
expectorated: Concentrated decoction of the whole plant or seeds with
bark of Morus alba
· Insomnia, bloody urine, urinary lithiasis, nephritic edema,
beriberi edema, hypertension, bronchitis: Decoction of 30 to 60 gms
of dried or 30 to 90 gms of fresh material.
· Reddening and swelling pain of the eye.
· For furuncles, eczema and various skin irritation: Poultice
of pounded fresh material.
· Gum inflammation
or gingivitis: Use decoction as mouth wash or as gargle.
· Skin irritation: Apply decoction over affected area.The
powdered seeds may be mixed with oil for treatment of dermatitis.
· Used as antidote and diuretic. Also
used as poultice for sores, particularly inflamed fingernails. A watery
extract of the seeds is given for whooping cough. To purify blood, stomachaches,
and malaria, the whole plant is boiled and the decoction is taken internally
as a diuretic for stone in the bladder.
· Decoction of root reported to cause a natural aversion to tobacco
and used as an ingredient in smoking-cessation preparations.
· In Romania
and Bulgaria, used for
cuts and scratches.
· In Ayurveda,
used for constipation, diarrhea, dysentery.
· In China, used
for colds and viral hepatitis.
· In Malaysia, used for treating diabetes and to increase male fertility.
· In Taiwan, used for treating respiratory, urinary and digestive tract infectious diseases.
Studies
• Review: The traditional
uses, chemical constituents and biological activities of Plantago major
L. A review: Well known in traditional medicine as a wound healing remedy.
Studies have yielded biologically active compounds and a range of biologic
acitivties as wound healing, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, analgeisc, antiulcerogenic activity.
• Anti-Urolthiatic:
In Vitro Effects of Plantago Major Extract on Urolithiasis: PM
extract was better than allopurinol and potassium citrate in inhibiting
the size of calcium oxalate crystals in vivo.
• Immunoenhancing: Plantago
major leaves have been attributed antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antitumor
and wound healing properties. A methanol extract study of its leaves
showed increases of nitric-oxide production, increase in TNF-a production.
Study suggests the a regulation of immune parameters induced by plant
extracts may be clinically involved in numerous diseases including chronic
viral infections, TB, AIDS and cancer.
• Antibacterial: Effects
of Methanol, Ethanol and Aqueous Extract of Plantago major on Gram Positive
Bacteria, Gram Negative Bacteria and Yeast: The methanol and ethanol
extracts of PM showed antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E
col.
• Antiviral Activity:
Study showed phenolic compounds to be responsible for PM antiviral activities
against herpesvirus-2 and adenovirus-3.
• Smoking Cessation: (US
Patent 6063401) - Plantago major and hypericum perforatum compound for
use in treating a tobacco or nicotine habit – Patented claims
on the use of P major and H perforatum as a smoking cessation preparation.
• Analgesic / Antiinflammatory:
A study of the aqueous extract of dried ground leaves on rats
showed effective antiinflammatory and analgesic activities.
• No Diuretic Effect: In a study of four traditional Vietnamese herbal remedies (Z mays, I cylindrica, Plantago major, O stamineus) claiming to increase diuresis, no diuretic effect was seen in a placebo-controlled double-blind crossover model.
• Hypoglycemic / Spermatogenic Effect: Study to evaluate its traditional use for diabetes and male fertility showed the aqueous leaf extract of PM could contain chemicals for treating diabetes and male infertility problems.
• Anti-Cancer: Study results showed that the PM extract had an inhibitory effect on Erlich ascites carcinoma and proposes an potential agent for cancer prevention.
• Antimicrobial: Study of several folk medicinal plants, including the ethanolic extract of PM, tested against several organisms, all showed higher antibacterial activity against E coli and S aureus.
• Anticancer / Antiviral / Immunmodulating: Study of the hot water extracts of P major and P asiatica showed a broad spectrum of anti-leukemic, anticarciboma and antiviral activities, as well as modulation of cell-mediated immunity.
• Ursolic Acid / COX-2 Inhibition: Study isolated a triterpenoid, ursolic acid, which showed significant COX-2 inhibitory effect, directly on enzyme activity.
• Hepatoprotective / Anti-Inflammatory: Study in carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity, PM showed considerable anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective activities.
• Hematopoietic Activity: Study of the extracts of the aerial parts (leaves and seeds) of PM, added to mice bone marrow and spleen cultures, E coli, B subtilis and C albicans cultures, showed bone marrow and spleen cell concentration and inhibitionn of the bacterial growths. Data demonstrates for the first time that PM has hematopoietic activity in vitro.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
Leaf extracts in the cybermarket. |
