Botany
Low-growing perennial
herb with tuberous roots, growing to a height of a foot or more. Leaves
are opposite, elliptic, short petioled, abruptly narrowed at the base,
with undulate margins and up to 12 cm long. Flowers are showy, with
funnel-shaped, 5-lobed corolla, up to 5 cm across, and mauve or light
bluish purple. Fruit is a pod with 7 to 8 seeds, bursting open and
hurtling the seeds when it gets wet.
Distribution
In open waste places
in the Philippines.
Parts
used and preparation
Roots and leaves.
Constituents
- Leaves contain apigenin
and luteolin.
- The seed oil yields myristic, capril and lauric acids.
- Study yielded flavonoids, glycosides, phenols, saponins and essential minerals with good nutritive value and secondary metabolites.
Uses
Folkloric
• No
reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
• In Trinidad
and Tobago, used as
a "cooling" agent, for urinary problems and high cholesterol.
• In Suriname's
traditional medicine, used as anthelmintic; for joint pains and muscle
strain. Also used as abortifacient. Root is used against kidney diseases
and whooping cough. Infusion used for clenasing the blood.
• Root and leaf used for alleviating urinary retention.
• Used for gonorrhea, syphilis, bladder stones, bronchitis and
cancer.
• In the Cayman Islands,
used for heart ailments.
• In Grenada,
used for common colds, fevers and hypertension.
• In the Dominican Republic, an
ingredient in a concoction for a male potency drink.
• In Sri Lankan traditional medicine, used for stomach problems.
Studies
• Antinociceptive / Antiinflammatory:
Ethanol extract of Ruellia
tuberosa showed antinociceptive and antiinflammatory activities with
maximum time response against thermal stimuli similar to that of diclofenac
and significant inhibition in serotonin and egg albumin-induced hind
paw edema in rats. The antiinflammatory activirty was comparable to
that of indomethacin.
• Antioxidant:
Study showed that Rubellia
tuberosa possesses potent antioxidant activity. The results provide
information on its antioxidant related activity in its use in traditional
folk medicine.
• Bioactive
Flavonoids / Cytotoxicity: Ethanol extract study
showed yielded five flavonoids –cirsimarin, cirsiliol 4'-glucoside,
sorbifolin, pedalitin, along with betulin, vanillic acid, and
indole-3-carboxaldehyde. Some compounds showed cytotoxicity against
KB and HepG2 cell line.
• Gastroprotective / Analgesic: Study of crude aqueous extracts of Ruellia tuberosa roots in a rat alcohol-induced gastric lesion model showed a strong and dose-dependent gastroprotective activity. The extract also showed mild erythropoetic and moderate analgesic activities.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
Seeds in the cybermarkets.
