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Botany
Sambong is a half woody, strongly aromatic shrub, densely and softly hairy, 1 to 4 meters high.
Stems grow up to 2.5 centimeters in diameter. Leaves are simple, alternate, elliptic- to oblong-lanceolate, 7 to 20 centimeters long, toothed
at the margins, pointed or blunt at the tip, narrowing to a short petiole which are often auricled or appendaged. Flowering heads are stalked, yellow and numerous, 6 to 7 millimeters long, and borne on branches of a terminal, spreading or pyramidal leafy panicle. Discoid flowers are of two types: peripheral
ones tiny, more numerous, with tubular corolla; central flowers few,
large with campanulate corolla. Involucral bracts are green, narrow and hairy. Anther cells tailed at base. Fruits are achenes,
dry, 1-seeded, 10-ribbed, hairy at top.
Distribution
- Common in open fields, grasslands and waste areas at low and medium altitudes.
- Flowering from February to
April.
- Propagation by cuttings and layering.
- Also occurs in China, Hainan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam.
Constituents
• Volatile oil,
0.1 - 0.4% - l-borneol, 25%, l-camphor, 75%, limonene, saponins, sesquiterpene
and limonene, tannins, sesquiterpene alcohol; palmitin; myristic acid.
• Yields flavonoids, terpenes (borneol, limonene, camphor, a-pinene, b-pinene, 3-carene, sesquiterpenes, monoterpenes, triteroenes, and cryptomeridiol), lactones (blumealactone A, B, C).
Properties
Considered anthelmintic, antidiarrheal,
antigastralgic, antispasmodic, astringent, carminative, emmenagogue, expectorant, stomachic, and vulnerary.
Parts
utilized
Leaves (fresh or
dried) and young roots before flowering.
Mature, healthy, fully expanded leaves are harvested while senescent
leaves are discarded. Air-dry until they crumble when crushed
with the fingers. Store in amber colored bottles in a cool, dry
place.
Uses
Edibility
- Leaves used a flavoring ingredient.
Folkloric
- Leaves as poultice for abscesses.
- Decoction of roots and leaves for fevers, kidney stones, and cystitis.
- Decoction of leaves used to induced diuresis for purpose of treating kidney stones.
- Sitz-bath of boiled leaves, 500 gms to a gallong of water, for rheumatic
pains of waist and back.
- Used in upper and lower respiratory tract affections like sinusitis, asthmatic bronchitis, influenza.
- Applied while hot over the sinuses. Used for wounds and cuts.
Fresh juice of leaves to wounds and cuts.
- Poultice of leaves applied to the forehead for relief of headaches.
- Tea is used for colds and as an expectorant; likewise, has antispasmodic
and antidiarrheal benefits.
Postpartum baths.
- In Vietnam, decoction of fresh leaves used for cough and influenza or as inhalation of vapour from boiling of leaves.
- In Thailand, dried leaves are chopped, made into cigarettes and smoked for treating sinusitis.
- For fever, leaves boiled and when lukewarm used as sponge bath.
- Decoction of roots used for fever.
- Decoction of leaves, 50 gms to a pint of boiling water, 4 glasses daily,
for stomach pains.
- In SE Asia widely used for various women problems. Postpartum, leaves are used in hot fomentation over the uterus to induce rapid involution. Also used for menorrhagia, dysmenorrhea, functional uterine bleeding and leucorrhea.
- Roots used for menorrhage.
- Decoction of roots and leaves used for rheumatism and arthritis; also used for treatment of post-partum joint pains.
- Poultice of fresh leaves applied to affected joint.
- In Chinese and Thai medicine, leaves used for treatment of septic wounds and other infections.
- A sitz-bath of boiled leaves used in the treatment of lumbago and sciatica.
Preparations
• Fever:
decoction of roots; boil 2 - 4 handfuls of the leaves. Use the lukewarm
decoction as a sponge bath.
• Headaches:
apply pounded leaves on the forehead and temples. Hold in place with
a clean piece of cloth.
• Gas
distention: boil 2 tsp of the chopped leaves in 1 cup of water for 5
minutes. Drink the decoction while warm. Also used for upset stomach.
• Postpartum, for mothers'
bath after childbirth.
• Boils: Apply pounded leaves as poultice daily.
• Diuretic:
Boil 2 tbsp chopped leaves in 2 glasses of water for 15 minutes. Take
1/2 of the decoction after every meal, 3 times a day.
Camphor cultivation
• Can be cultivated
as a source of camphor. Experiments in China produced 50,000 kilos of
leaves per hectare, with a possible borneol yield of 50-200 kilos per
hectare. L-borneol is easily oxidized to camphor. source
New applications
As a diuretic
and for dissolution of renal stones.
- As a diuretic in hypertension
and fluid retention. Also used for dissolution of kidney stones. Some
clinical studies, including double blind/placebo randomized studies,
have shown encouraging results for Sambong to be both safe and effective
in the treatment of kidney stones and hypertension. The National Kidney
and Transplant Institute has promoted the use of this herbal medicine
for many renal patients to avert or delay the need for dialysis or organ
transplantation.
- Being promoted by the Department of Health
(DOH) as a diuretic and for dissolution of renal stones. One of a few
herbs recently registered with the Bureau of Foods and Drugs as medicines.
Other benefits
Possible benefits in use patients with elevated cholesterol and as an
analgesic for postoperative dental pain.
Studies
• Sesquiterpenoids
and plasmin-inhibitory flavonoids: Study
yielded two new sesquiterpenoid esters 1 and 2. Compound 2 showed to
be slightly cytotoxic. Nine known flavonoids were also isolated, two
of which showed plasmin-inhibitory activity.
• Anticancer:
(1) Study of methanolic extract of BB suggest a possible therapeutic
potential in hepatoma cancer patients. (2) Study of B balsamifera extract induced growth-inhibitory activity in rat and human hepatocellular carcinoma cells without cytotoxicity. Findings suggest a possible therapeutic role for the B balsamifera methanol extract in treatment of hepatoma cancer patients.
• Urolithiasis:
Study shows sambong to be a promising chemolytic agent for
calcium stones.
• Antispasmodic / Cryptomeridiol: Study isolated cryptomeridio from the dried leaves. Results showed antispasmodic activity from various plant parts.
• Antifungal / Antibacterial: Phytochemical study of leaves yielded icthyothereol acetate, cyptomeridiol, lutein and ß-carotene. Antimicrobial tests showed activity against A niger, T mentagrophytes and C albicans. Results also showed activity against P aeruginosa, S aureus, B subtilis and E coli.
• Abrogation of TRAIL Resistance in Leukemia Cells: Study shows combined treatment with a dihydroflavonol extracted from Blumea balsamifera exhibited the most striking synergism with TRAIL (tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-related apoptosis-inducing ligand) and suggests a new strategy for cancer therapy.
• Antibacterial: Study of 12 crude alcoholic and aqueous extracts from 5 medicinal plants, including B balsamifera, showed potential antibacterial effect against S aureus.
• Radical Scavenging: Study of Blumea balsamifera extracts and flavonoids showed the methanol extract exhibiting higher radical scavenging activity than the chloroform extract.
• Leaf Volatile Oil Components: Analysis of leaf essential oil revealed 50 components contributing to 99.07 % of the oil: borneol (33.22%), caryophyllene (8.24%), ledol (7.12%), tetracyclo[6,3,2,0,(2.5).0(1,8) tridecan-9-ol, 4,4-dimethyl (5.18%), with phytol(4.63%), caryophyllene oxide(4.07%), guaiol (3.44%), thujopsene-13 (4.42%), dimethoxy- durene (3.59%) and γ-eudesmol (3.18%).
• Antiplasmodial Activitiy: Study of roots and stem showed significant antiplasmodial activity.
• Hepatoprotective Activity: Study isolated blumeatin (Blu, 5,3,5'-trihydroxy-7-methoxy-dihydro-flavone and showed hepatoprotective activity against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and thioacetamide. It also shortened the pentobarbital sleeping time in CCl4-intoxicated mice.
• Antimicrobial Activity / Essential Oil: In a study of various extracts and essential oil for antibacterial and antifungal activities, results showed the essential oil to be most potent. The oil showed significant activity against B. cereus, S. aureus and C. albicans; a hexane extract, against E. cloacae and S aueus. Results showed B. balsamifera extracts have activity against various infections and toxin-producing microorganisms.
• Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitory Activity: Study of aerial parts yielded a new dihydroflavonol, (2R,3S)-(−)-4′-O-methyldihydroquercetin, together with seven known compounds. Most of the compounds showed significant concentration-dependent xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity.
• Urinary Stone Dissolution: Sambong used in-vitro showed dissolution of urinary stones, with a faster activity on uric acid stones. No significant effect was noted with struvite and calcium stones.
• Anti-Tyrosinase / Anti-Cancer Activities: Sambong used
Availability
Wild-crafted.
Tablets and extracts in the cybermarket.
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