Codonopsis javanica (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Codonopsis javanica (Blume) Hook.f.
- Protologue: Ill. Himal. pl.: 116, t. 16B (1855).
- Family: Campanulaceae
- Chromosome number: 2n= 16
Synonyms
Campanumoea javanica Blume (1826), Campanumoea cordata Miq. (1862), Campanumoea maximowiczii Honda (1936).
Vernacular names
- Indonesia: ki cepot (Sundanese), guci, indil-indil (Javanese)
- Vietnam: dảng sâm, mằn cáy, rầy cáy.
Origin and geographic distribution
C. javanica occurs in eastern India, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Sumatra and Java. It is locally planted as a medicinal plant in Vietnam.
Uses
C. javanica is not important as a medicinal plant in the Malesian region, with only one record on an obscure use of the root in Java. However, it is much more important in Indo-China. In Vietnam, the root is considered stomachic, expectorant and diuretic. Infusions, decoctions, pills, powders or elixirs from the roots are recommended as a general tonic, as a cough remedy and for the treatment of jaundice, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, oedema, haemorrhoids, and a wide range of urogenital and lymphatic afflictions. In China and Korea Codonopsis species are employed as a general tonic. In China the roots are also used to promote lactation. Several species (e.g. C. pilosula (Franch.) Nannf., C. tangshen Oliv.), indigenous or introduced in northern Vietnam, are imported and mentioned in the Vietnamese Pharmacopoeia as Radix Codonopsis.
Properties
The triterpene taraxerol was isolated from the roots of C. javanica , together with steroids, β-sitosterol and α-spinasterol. There is no information on pharmacological activities of C. javanica , but the related C. pilosula has been better investigated. In order to support its use in traditional medicine for the treatment of nephritis, C. pilosula was subjected to both in-vitro and in-vivo testing. Intraperitoneal injection in rats and in-vitro tests with endothelial cells and kidney homogenates revealed stimulatory effects on nitric oxide release. This may well contribute to the hypotensive effect and antinephretic action, possibly by increasing renal bloodflow. An extract of C. pilosula weakly stimulated lymphocyte proliferation in vitro. It enhanced cytotoxic T-lymphocyte activity, but failed to enhance natural killer-cell activity. The extract stimulated immunoglobin production by B-cells and interleukin-1 production by monocytes. Another experiment revealed that pollen of C. pilosula as a feed additive could efficiently counteract the liver toxicity in mice induced by CCl4. An experiment using 5 animal models of gastric ulcer showed that an extract of C. pilosula had a significant effect on gastric ulcers induced by stress, acetic acid and sodium hydroxide, but little effect on ulcers induced by pyloroligature and indomethacin. The extract was also capable of reducing gastric acid pepsin secretion. It is possible that inhibition of gastro-intestinal movement and propulsion is one of the mechanisms involved in the anti-ulcer action of C. pilosula extract.
Botany
A vigorous, perennial climber up to 3 m long, with tuberous roots; stems slender, twining, green, usually glabrous. Leaves opposite, but higher up often arranged spirally, simple, ovate to oblong-ovate, 2.5-8 cm × 2-5 cm, base cordate, apex obtuse, acute or acuminate, serrate, glabrous or slightly hairy; petiole 1.5-6.5 cm long; stipules absent. Flowers solitary, axillary, rarely terminal, bisexual, regular, 5-merous; pedicel 1-5.5 cm long; calyx implanted below the ovary, lobes lanceolate to oblong, 11-23 mm × 3-4 mm, entire or serrate, slighty to widely spreading, pale green; corolla broadly campanulate, 12-35 mm long, up to more than halfway lobed, greenish-white or yellowish-white outside, with purplish streaks inside; stamens (4-)6, free, inserted on the ovary; ovary inferior, (3-)4-5(-6)-celled, style cylindrical, 3-6-lobed. Fruit a subglobular berry 0.5-1.5 cm × 1-2.5 cm, red to dark purple, at the base sustained by the persistent red calyx lobes, and crowned by the withered corolla. Seeds ovoid, c. 1 mm long, pale brown.
C. javanica can be found flowering and fruiting throughout the year. Generic delimitation of Codonopsis is problematic, with the genera Campanumoea and Leptocodon variously included or excluded. Codonopsis consists of some 40 species, and has a distinctive Asian distribution with species concentrated particularly in the temperate regions of the Himalaya and the mountains of western China. C. javanica belongs to the subgenus Codonopsis , characterized by carrot-like or branched tubers, and tubular or bell-shaped corolla emitting a foetid smell. The taxonomical status of the Vietnamese and Chinese Codonopsis species used in traditional medicine deserves more attention.
Ecology
In Malesia C. javanica is found in open forest, forest edges, secondary growth and thickets or even meadows in mountainous areas at 1000-2500 m altitude. In northern Vietnam C. javanica and C. pilosula are planted in regions at higher elevations with a minimum rainfall of 2000 mm.
Management C. javanica and C. pilosula are propagated by seed. A yield of 600-700 kg roots/ha is obtained after 3 years.
Genetic resources
Since C. javanica is widespread and variable, its genetic basis does not appear to be threatened. However, wild populations may seriously be affected by overcollecting in Indo-China and southern China.
Prospects
The immunostimulating activity as observed in the related C. pilosula , supporting its use as a general tonic in local medicine, may likewise be present in C. javanica . Research is needed to determine its prospects as a medicinal plant of wider use in the Malesian region.
Literature
216, 247, 293, 477, 841, 1008.
Other selected sources
294, 334, 526, 531, 671, 980, 1017.
Main genus page
Authors
J.L.C.H. van Valkenburg
