Justicia adhatoda (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Justicia adhatoda L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 1: 15 (1753).

Synonyms

• Adhatoda zeylanica Medic. (1790),
• Adhatoda vasica Nees (1832).

Vernacular names

• Malabar nut tree (En)
• Thailand: kra niat (peninsular), kulaa khaao (northern), saniat moraa (central)
• Vietnam: xuân tiết.

Distribution

Possibly a native of India, but now much cultivated, e.g. in Java and Thailand.

Uses

The roots and leaves are widely used in the Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine in India and Thailand for treating bronchitis, asthma, fever and jaundice. J. adhatoda is often planted in hedges, and the wood is used as firewood. In India, it is also grown as a green manure in rice, tobacco and tea. Boiled tender shoots are eaten with salt locally in India.

Observations

• An erect, much branched shrub up to 4(-6) m tall, stems quadrangular to nearly terete.
• Leaves lanceolate-elliptical, 8-25 cm × 2.5-8 cm, with (1-)1.5-3.5(-4.5) cm long petiole.
• Flowers in spikes with leafy, broadly elliptical, 1.5-4 cm long bracts, 3-4.5 cm long, white.
• Fruit broadly clavate, about 2.5 cm long, pubescent.

J. adhatoda is planted in Java up to 1400 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [226] Chakravarty, A.K., Dastidar, P.P.G. & Pakrashi, S.C., 1982. Simple aromatic amines from Justicia gendarussa. 13C NMR spectra of the bases and their analogues. Tetrahedron 38(12): 1797-1802.
• [288] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1985. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. Revised Edition. Vol. 1. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India. 513 pp.
• [369] Dorsch, W., Dumoulin, S., Stuppner, H. & Wagner, H., 1990. Screening of drugs of traditional medicine for new antiasthmatic active principles. Planta Medica 56(6): 683.
• [410] Ferdous, A.J, Islam, S.N., Ahsan, M. & Faroque, A.B.M., 1990. Antibacterial activity of the leaves of Adhatoda vasica, Calotropis gigantea, Nerium odorum and Ocimum sanctum. Bangladesh Journal of Botany 19(2): 227-229.
• [502] Grange, J.M. & Snell, N.J., 1996. Activity of bromhexine and ambroxol, semi-synthetic derivatives of vasicine, against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vitro. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 50(1): 49-53.
• [1012] Nasir, E. & Ali, S.I. (Editors), 1970-1988. Flora of West Pakistan. No 1-188. Department of Botany, University of Karachi and National Herbarium, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan.
• [1013] Nath, D., Sethi, N., Singh, R.K. & Jain, A.K., 1992. Commonly used Indian abortifacient plants with special reference to their teratologic effects in rats. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 36(2): 147-154.
• [1126] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
• [1535] Wagner, H., 1989. Search for new plant constituents with potential antiphlogistic and antiallergic activity. Planta Medica 55(3): 235-241.

Main genus page

• Justicia (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• H. Sangat-Roemantyo