Acanthus ebracteatus (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Acanthus ebracteatus Vahl

Protologue: Symb. bot. 2: 75, t. 40 (1791).

• Sea holly (En)
• Indonesia: daruju (Javanese), juruju (Sumatra)
• Malaysia: jeruju hitam, beruju (Peninsular)
• Thailand: ngueak plaa mo (general)
• Vietnam: ô rô.

Distributed from South-East Asia to northern Australia. Very common in Malaysia, but less common in Indonesia.

The boiled seeds of A. ebracteatus are commonly used in Peninsular Malaysia, as an ingredient of a cough medicine. The seeds are also used for poulticing boils, or the decoction is drunk against boils. In Thailand, the roots and stem are used for skin diseases and for longevity.

• An erect or reclining, smooth herb, up to 1 m tall, scarcely branched, with adventitious aerial roots
• Leaves oblong, 12-20 cm × 3-5 cm; spike up to 10 cm long, many-flowered, bracts ovate, 6-8 mm long, bracteoles early caducous.
• Calyx lobes ovate, corolla lobe elliptical-oblong, 2.5 cm × 2 cm, white, rarely blueish.

A. ebracteatus is gregarious and very common in tidal rivers.

• [135] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I—Z) pp. 1241—2444.
• [297] Farnsworth, N.R. & Bunyapraphatsara, N. (Editors), 1992. Thai medicinal plants. Medicinal Plant Information Center, Prachachon Co., Bangkok, Thailand. 402 pp.
• [449] Hoult, J.R.S., Hongton, P.J. & Laupattarakasem, P., 1997. Investigation of four Thai medicinal plants for inhibition of pro-inflammatory eicosanoid synthesis in activated leukocytes. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Supplement 49(4): 218.
• [786] 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.
• [846] Rojanapo, W., Tepsuwan, A. & Siripong, P., 1990. Mutagenicity and antimutagenicity of Thai medicinal plants. Basic Life Sciences 52: 447—452.

• Acanthus

• H.C. Ong