Artemisia capillaris (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Artemisia capillaris Thunb.

Protologue: Fl. jap.: 309 (1784).

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: rumput roman (Peninsular)
• Vietnam: ngải lá kim, nhân trần bắc.

Distribution

India, China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan, the Ryukyu Islands and the Philippines; locally cultivated in gardens in Peninsular Malaysia.

Uses

The buds have been used since antiquity in Chinese and Japanese medicine as a cholagogue, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and diuretic in jaundice, inflammation of the liver and cholecystitis; dried plants are imported by Vietnam from China. It has been reported in Peninsular Malaysia that the leaves used to be applied in poultices to cure headache.

Observations

• A much-branched subshrub up to 100 cm tall, stem somewhat woody at base, sterile as well as flowering branches present.
• Leaves bipinnate, up to 9 cm long, with linear-filiform, 0.5-2 mm wide segments, initially densely villous but glabrescent.
• Heads in large panicles, 1.5-2 mm long.
• Central flowers male.
• Fruit oblong, about 0.8 mm long and glabrous.

A. capillaris closely resembles the widely distributed A. campestris L. and A. scoparia Waldst. & Kit., but these species differ in respectively their larger and smaller heads. It is especially found along seashores and rivers.

Selected sources

• 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.
• Ikenaga, T., Hizako, M., Tajima, M. & Nakashima, K., 1994. Production of choleretic substances in the capitulum, leaf and stem of Artemisia capillaris during the plant growth cycle. Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 17(1): 150-151.
• Kimura, Y., Okuda, H., Okuda, T., Hatano, T., Agata, I. & Arichi, S., 1985. Studies on the activities of tannins and related compounds from medinal plants and drugs. VII. Effects of extracts of leaves of Artemisia species, and caffeic acid and chlorogenic acid on lipid metabolic injury in rats fed peroxidized oil. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 33(5): 2028-2034.
• Kiso, Y., Ogasawara, S., Hirota, K., Watanabe, N., Oshima, Y., Konno, C. & Hikino, H., 1984. Antihepatotoxic principles of Artemisia capillaris buds. Planta Medica 50(1): 81-85.
• Kiso, Y., Sasaki, K., Oshima, Y. & Hikino, H., 1982. Structure of arcapillin, an antihepatoxic principle of Artemisia cappillaris herbs. Heterocycles 19: 1615-1617.
• Kiso, Y., Suzuki, Y., Konno, C., Hikino, H., Hashimoto, I. & Yagi, Y., 1982. Application of carbon tetrachloride induced liver lesion in mice for the screening of liver protective crude drugs. Shoyakugaku Zasshi 36(3): 238-244. (in Japanese)
• Miyazawa, M. & Kameoka, H., 1977. The essential oil of Artemisia capillaris. Phytochemistry 16(7): 1054-1057.
• Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
• Nomura, M., Hida, T., Miyamoto, K., Ohshima, T., Hayashi, H. & Sawanishi, H., 1995. Synergistic effects of inchin ko to (yin chen hao tang) and ursodeoxycholic acid on cholestasis caused by alpha naphthyl isothiocyanate. Phytotherapy Research 9(8): 563-566.
• Okada, Y., Miyauchi, N., Suzuki, K., Kobayashi, T., Tsutsui, C., Mayuzumi, K., Nishibe, S. & Okuyama, T., 1995. Search for naturally occurring substances to prevent the complications of diabetes. II. Inhibitory effect of coumarin and flavonoid derivatives on bovine lens aldose reductase and rabbit platelet aggregation. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 43(8): 1385-1387.
• Pham Hoang Ho, 1991-1993. An illustrated flora of Vietnam. 3 volumes. Mekong Publisher, Montreal, Canada.
• Ueda, J., Yokota, T., Takahashi, N., Yoshida, M. & Kato, J., 1986. A root growth promoting factor, capillarol, from Artemisia capillaris Thunb. Agricultural and Biological Chemistry 50(12): 3083-3086.
• Yamahara, J., Kobayashi, G., Matsuda, H., Katayama, T. & Fujimura, H., 1989a. Vascular dilatory action of Artemisia capillaris bud extracts and their active constituent. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 26: 129-136.
• Yamahara, J., Kobayashi, G., Matsuda, H., Katayama, T. & Fujimura, H., 1989b. The effect of scoparone, a coumarin derivative isolated from the Chinese crude drug Artemisiae Capillaris Flos, on the heart. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 37(5): 1297-1299.
• Yano, K., 1975. Variation in acetylene content of different ecotypes of Artemisia capillaris. Phytochemistry 14(8): 1783-1784.
• Yano, K., 1983. Insect antifeeding phenylacetylenes from growing buds of Artemisia capillaris. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 31(3): 667-668.
• Yano, K., 1987. Minor components from growing buds of Artemisia capillaris that act as insect antifeedants. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 35(6): 889-891.
• Yano, K. & Ishizu, T., 1994. Capillen, a seed germination inhibitor from Artemisia capillaris roots. Phytochemistry 37(3): 689-690.

Main genus page

• Artemisia (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Nguyen Tien Ban, Vu Xuan Phuong & Charles B. Lugt