Botany
Urai is a stout, erect,
smooth, branched herb, 0.4 to 1 meter high. Stems are armed with slender, axillary
spines. (The presence of spines differentiate it from kolitis (Amaranthus
viridis). Leaves are glabrous, long-petioled, oblong to oblong ovate, or
elliptic-lanceolate, 4 to 10 centimeters long, obtuse, alternate.
Flowers are very numerous, stalkless, green or greening-white,
about 1 millimeter long, and borne in dense, axillary clusters and in elongated
terminal axillary spikes. Sepals are 5 or 1-3, ovate to linear, often aristate.
Petals are scarious. Bracts are linear, bristle-pointed and as long as the
sepals or longer.
Fruits are utricles, wrinkled, nearly as long as the sepals. Seeds are minute, black and shining.
 Distribution
- Weed found throughout
the Philippines at lowlands and low altitudes, in open waste place, gregarious and abundant along sand bars and margins of streams.
- Probably introduced; now, pantropic.
Parts
utilized
· Roots,
stems and leaves.
· Harvest the root at any time of the year.
· Wash thoroughly, cut into pieces and sun-dry.
· The plant can be eaten as a vegetable.
Properties
- Slightly sweet-tasting, mucilaginous.
- Considered refrigerant, antidote, diaphoretic, febrifuge, astringent, emmenagogue.
- Sudorific, lactagogue.
- Root considered diuretic.
- Leaves considered emollient.
Constituents
- Leaf contains anthraquinone derivatives, cardiac glycosides and saponins.
- Study yields 18 kinds of amino acids, 8 of which are essential.
- Contains 7-p-coumaroyl apigenin 4-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, a new coumaroyl flavone glycoside called spinoside, xylofuranoxyl uracil, beta-D-ribofuranosyl adenine, beta-sitosterol glucoside, hydroxycinnamates, quercetin and kaempferol glycosides, betalains, betaxanthin, betacyanin; amaranthine and isoamaranthine, gomphrenin, betanin, b-sitosterol, stigmasterol, linoleic acid, rutin and beta-carotene.
Uses
Nutritional
- Plant , especially the
young leaves, can be used as vegetable.
- In Singapore, young leaves used
as a spinach substitute; also, as much used in Indo-China and East Africa.
Folkloric
· In the Philippines, decoction of
roots has been used for treatment of gonorrhea.
· Roots - sundried, calcined, powdered and made into pill - used for gonorrhea.
· Used for fever, bronchitis, snake bites, bacillary dysentery, diarrhea, acute and chronic gastroenteritis,
urinary tract inflammation.
· Bruised leaves used for eczema.
· Used as antidote for snake-poison; also, as lactagogue.
· Dosage: Use 30 to 60 gms of dried material or 60 to 120 gms
of fresh material, as infusion or decoction. For external application,
employ decoction of fresh material as wash for ulcers and sores. Decoction
also used as gargle for sore throat.
· For bleeding hemorrhoids, uray can be combined with Verbena officinalis
and boiled into decoction. To the decoction, add a small amount of vinegar
and drink. Bleeding should cease the following day.
· Poultice of seeds used for broken bones.
· Like all amaranths, uray is used for coughs. Plant used as expectorant and to relieve breathing in acute bronchitis.
· In Pakistan, roots are used for
menorrhagia, gonorrhea, eczema, colic and as lactagogue. Leaves and
roots used as laxative, on boils and as poultice for abscesses.
· In the traditional medicine of Taiwan and China,
used for diabetes.
· In the Gold Coast, enema prepared from the plant used for piles.
· In China, poultice of seeds used for broken bones; used internally for bleeding, diarrhea and menorrhagia.
· In Malaya, root decoction used as diuretic.
· In Mauritius, root decoction used as diuretic.
· In India, infusion of roots used in treatment of eczema. Roots also used for menorrhagia.
· In Nepal, used as abortifacient.
· Bruised leaves used as emollient; applied externally to ulcerations in the mouth, eczema, burns, wounds, boils, earaches and hemorrhoids.
· Plant sap used as eye wash to treat ophthalmia and convulsions in children.
· In Malaysia, used as expectorant and for acute bronchitis.
· Bark decoction used for malaria.
· In Nigeria, ashes from burnt plant
used for sores; juice from plant used as eye wash. source
Others
Plant yields yellow and green dyes.
 Studies
• Antifertility:
Study that included the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of A spinosus
roots was studied for anti-fertility effects. The results showed alcholic
extract use in day 1 to day 5 of pregnancy showed significant pregnancy
interruption, more likely with the alcohol than aqueous extracts.
• Antimalarial:
Study showed the efficacy ofr AS extracts
against Plasmodium falcifarum supporting its traditional use for anti-parasitic
activity.
• Immunomodulatory:
Study assessed the immunomodulatory effects
of AS water extract and results suggested a heat-labile anti-apoptotic
component.
• Hepatoprotective
/ Antioxidant: Study results strongly indicated potenty hepatoprotective
activity in experimental hepatic damage in animals. Study suggests the
protective mechanism to be from the presence of flavonoids and phenolics.
• Anti-diabetic
/ Spermatogenic: Study showed methanolic extract of AS significantly
decreased blood glucose, comparable to glibenclamide. It also showed
hypolipidemic effects and accelerated spermatogenesis by increasing
sperm count and accessory sex organ weights. Results supports it folkloric
use for diabetes.
• Anti-Inflammatory:
Study of methanol extract of AS leaves showed
antiinflammatory activity probably through inhibition of prostaglandin
biosynthesis.
• Immuno-Modulatory / B-Lymphocyte Proliferation: Study of A spinosus water extracxt exhibited immuno-stimulating activity through direct stimulation of B-lymphocyte activation in vitro and suggests possible subsequent T cell proliferation in vitro. Results suggest a potential for future nutraceutical and immuno-pharmacologic use for AS.
• Adverse Hematologic Effects: Study of ethanol extract in pigs showed significant reduction of PCV, RBC and hemoglobin of pigs. Results suggest caution of in use to avoid probably toxic effects.
• Anti-Diarrheal / Anti-Ulcer: Study of ethanol extract of the whole plant of AS significantly inhibited travel time of a charcoal meal. Anti-ulcer effects were noted with differing degrees of protection with extract and with cimetidine.
• Phytochemicals / Betalains: Study of phenolic profile yielded betalains - amaranthine and isoamaranthine. Extracts were found to contain hydroxycinnamates, quercetin, kaempferol glycosides.
• Immunomodulatory: Study of water extract of AS inhibited the spontaneous and dexamethasone-induced apoptosis of splenocytes. Results suggest a potentially valuable substance for future nutraceutical and immunopharmacological use.
• Antinociceptive / Anti-Inflammatory: Study of 50% water extract of AS showed significant and dose-dependent anti-inflammatory activity and central and peripheral analgesic activity.
• Antioxidant: Study showed the antioxidant activity of the extracts to be concentration dependent. Study yielded rutin and quercetin which showed inhibition of haemoglycosylation.
Availability
Wild-crafted.
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