Botany
Lubigan is a perennial aromatic herb, with creeping, branching and rhizomatous rootstock. Rhizome are prostrate,
firm and stout with compactly arranged annular rings with numerous rootlets. Leaves arise from rhizome, linear, distichous, 30 to
50 cm long and 0.5 to 1 cm wide, base of leaf sheathed, clasping to each
other. Flowers are very small, compacted into a concave-shaped spadix
inflorescence. Sepals are 6, stamens 6, rarely flowering in the Philippines. Fruits are berries, turbinate, with pyramidal tops, about
0.2 cm diameter.
 Distribution
- Along streams in mountains,
creeks other moist places with running water, on boulders, etc., at
low and medium altitude in Luzon (Laguna).
-
Also found in Bontoc and
Benguet provinces.
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Usually sold in the Quiapo herbal market.
Constituents
-Rhizomes contain a volative and aromatic oil, sugars, choline, mucliage.
-Phytochemical studies yield volatile oil (active constituents a-asarone
and beta-asarone) and saponin.
-Rhizome studies have yielded asaron, parasaron, asarylaldehyde, sesquiterpenes,
acorin, eugenol.
-An oily substance, calamol (C12H18)3) has been extracted from the rhizome. The oil has been described as containing palmitic and heptoic acids, ester of palmitic together with some pinene, camphene, asaraldehyde, eugenol, asarone, calamene, calamerol and calameon.
- Rhizome has yielded an alkaloid, mainly choline, soft resine, gum, starch, and a bitter glucoside, acorin.
Properties
- Considered stimulant,
carminative, emetic, antispasmodic, insectifuge, insecticide, astringent.
- Studies indicate anticonvulsant, antioxidant, neuroprotective, hypolipidemic,
immunomodulatory properties.
- Rhizome considered stimulant and tonic.
- Reports of toxicity and carcinogenicity.
Propagation
Divisionn of rhizomes
and potted without drainage holes. For potting, use one part river sand,
one part garden soil, one part coco coir dust and one part rice hull.
When established, place in partial to full sun.
Part utilized
· Rhizome and
leaves.
· Best collected before flowering, the months of October and
November.
· Rinse, remove rootlets, cut into sections, sun-dry. May be
stored fresh for a long time by keeping under moist sand.
Uses
Edibility
-Fresh rhizomes can be candied or used in cordial liquers, soups and
sauces, mixed with other condiments (ginger, mace or cinnamon).
-Young shoots used in salads, believed to improve the appetite.
Folkloric
· Rheumatic
arthritis, lumbago and leg pains: As embrocation, by cooking vine or
rhizome (50 gms) with coconut oil (3 oz) .
· Indigestion, gastritis; Used for ague, tonic dyspepsia.
· Rhizome use as masticatory for toothache.
· Rhizome used as stimulant and tonic.
· Oil is carminative; also used as digestive and to increase the appetite.
· Dried rhizome chewed ad libitum to relieve dyspepsia.
· Oil used as expectorant and remedy for asthma. Also used for chronic dysentery.
· Rhizome used for hemorrhages and intestinal ulcerations.
· Rhizome is a nervine sedative; in large doses, nauseant and emetic.
· Tinnitus, deafness, poor memory.
· Loss of consciousness during high fever.
· Sometimes combined with other drugs for treatment of insanity.
· Decoction: 30 gms of dried material (roots and leaves) to a
pint of boiling water; tea drunk 4x daily for dyspepsia, gastritis,
indigestion, stomch pains, diarrhea, asthma.
· Powdered rhizome used as insecticide and insectifuge.
· Rhizome skin used as hemostatic.
· Poultice of fresh material used for abscessed inflammation
and scabies.
· In Ayurveda,
used for psychoneurosis, insomnia, hysteria, epilepsy, memory loss.
Also, for cough, fever, bronchitis, depression, inflammation, tumors,
general debility.
· In Teheran, rhizome used as remedy for rheumatism.
· In Chinese medicine,
used to aid digestion and regulate gastrointestinal fermentation and
acidity.
· In Greek-Arab medicine, used to treat gastritis, anorexia,
epilepsy, rheumatoid arthritis.
Folkloric
fringe
Used to protect young children from bales or
usog. The matured rhizome is round-peeled and dried and the pieces
thread together and worn as a protective waist or wrist band.
Others
- Powdered rhizome used for sachet and toilet powders.
- Oil used for scenting snuff.
Studies
• ACORUS GRAMINEUS SOLAND EXTRACT FOR PREVENTING
AND TREATING ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE AND PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITION AND
HEALTH FOOD CONTAINING THE SAME (Read)
• Insecticidal / Asarones:
(1) Study indicate the toxicity of asarones might be due to the cis configuration. In a fumigation test, the insecticidal activity of the compound was largely attributable to its fumigant action. (2) Insecticidal activities of asarones identified in Acorus gramineus rhizome
against Nilaparvata lugens (Homoptera: Delphacidae) and Plutella xylostella
(Lepidoptera: Yponomeutoidae)
• Antifungal / B-Asarone:
An antifungal substance, B-Asarone, was isolated from the extract of
AG with in vivo and in vitro activity against plant fungal pathogens
M. grisea and C. orbiculare.
• Antibacterial / Antihelmintic:
Isolation of beta-asarone, an antibacterial and anthelmintic compound,
from Acorus calamus in South Africa: The aromatic rhizomes is used in
many traditional medicine systems for stomach cramps, dysentery, asthma
and as anthelmintic, tonic and stimulant. The beta-asarone isolated
showed anthelmintic and antibacterial acitivties. However its mammalian
toxicity and carcinogenicity discourages its use for traditional healing.
• Glutathione S-transferase Activity / Hyaluronidase Inhibitory
Effect: Of 20 alcohol extracts of 20 species plants
tested, Acorus gramineus and Pueraria lobata exhibited GST activity.
• Anti-Diarrheal:
Study of plant extracts on their anti-diarrheal potential against castor-oil
induced diarrhea in mice showed Acorus calamus rhizome significantly
reduced induction time of diarrhea and the total weight of the feces.
Results established the efficacy of the plant extracts as antidiarrheal
agents.
• Anti-Ulcer / Anti-Secretory /
Cytopretective : Ethanol extract study produced significant
anti-secretory, anti-ulcer and cytoprotective effects in rats. Its ability
to protect the mucosa against indomethacin-induced mucosal damage confirms
its anti-ulcer activity. Calamus also showed significant adaptive cytoprotective
activity. It is known to possess sesquiterpenes which could contribute
to its anti-ulcer activity.
• Anti-Convulsant / Essential Oil Inhalation Effects:
Sedative effect after inhalation or oral administration of AGR essential oil suggests the oil may act on the CNS via the GABAergic system. An inhibitory activity of preinhalation of the essential oil was also noted on lipid peroxidation, to which an anticonvulsive action is attributed.
• Antihepatotoxic / Antioxidant:
Study showed the ethanol extract of AC confers hepatoprotective and antioxidant activities by histopath and biochemical observations against acetaminophen-induced liver injury is rats; an effect comparable to the standard drug silymarin.
• Volatile Oil / Olfaction Stimulation / Benefits in Alzheimer's Disease:
Study showed perfume stimulating olfaction with volatile oil of Acorus gramineus significantly increase the learning-memory ability, decrease MDA content and increase SOD and GSH-Px acitivities and brain weight in AD rats.
• Memory / Cerebral Atrophy / Alzheimer's Disease:
Study in AD-induced rats treated with extract of volatile oil of A. gramineus and piracetam showed adjuvant therapy has the effect of controlling cerebral atrophy and prevention and cure of AD.
• Calamusenone / Pesticidal: Calamusenone isolated from A. gramineus rhizome showed promise as a novel pesticide candidate for stored-product pest control.
• CNS Neuroprotective Effects / Anticonvulsive: (1) Korean study in mice on central effects of inhalation of essential oil from AG produced sigificant inhibition of GABA-transaminase enzyme degradation with resultant increase in GABA and glutamate. An anticonvulsant and sedative effect was reported. (2) Both Acorus gramineus and a-asarone can enhance reactivity and convulsive threshold of immature rats to electric stimulation. (3) Rhizome essential oil study showed neuroprotective effects on cultured cortical neurons through the blockade of NMDA receptor activity.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
Essential oil, leaf and rhizome extracts in the cybermarket.
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