Plectranthus barbatus (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Plectranthus barbatus Andrews

Protologue: Bot. repos. 9: pl. 594 (1810).

Synonyms

• Coleus barbatus (Andrews) Benth. (1831),
• Coleus forskohlii (Willd.) Briq. (1897) non Vahl (1790).

Distribution

Nepal, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka; introduced into Madagascar, East Africa and western Asia, and also planted in the Neotropics.

Uses

In traditional medicine in Brazil, P. barbatus is commonly used as an analgesic and to cure liver and stomach diseases. In India it is considered to have anti-allergenic activity. The tuberous roots are eaten as a condiment in India, where they are prepared as a pickle.

Observations

• A perennial semi-succulent herb up to 75 cm tall, with generally decumbent stem rooting at lower nodes and thick tuberous roots; leaves ovate-oblong, 3-9 cm × 2-5 cm, thick.
• Flowers in lax verticillasters disposed in terminal raceme-like inflorescences.
• Calyx 2-lipped, corolla 13-17 mm long, deep purplish-blue.
• Nutlets globose, about 1.2 mm long, granulate, blackish-brown.

P. barbatus occurs in open, semi-arid areas, on waste places and often on shallow, moist soil among rocks on slopes, up to 1500 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [58] Ammon, H.P.T. & Müller, A.B., 1985. Forskolin: From an Ayurvedic remedy to a modern agent. Planta Medica 51: 473-477.
• [193] Bruneton, J., 1995. Pharmacognosy, phytochemistry, medicinal plants. Technique & Documentation Lavoisier, Paris, France. 915 pp.
• [292] Cramer, L.H., 1981. Lamiaceae (Labiatae). In: Dassanayake, M.D. & Fosberg, F.R. (Editors): A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol. 3. Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi, India. pp. 108-194.
• [524] Gupta, P.P., Srimal, R.C. & Tandon, J.S., 1993. Antiallergic activity of some traditional Indian medicinal plants. International Journal of Pharmacognosy 31(1): 15-18.
• [529] Gupta, S., Yadava, J.N.S. & Tandon, J.S., 1993. Antisecretory antidiarrhoeal activity of Indian medicinal plants against Escherichia coli enterotoxin-induced secretion in rabbit and guinea pig ileal loop models. International Journal of Pharmacognosy 31(3): 198-204.
• [718] Kelecom, A., 1983. Isolation, structure determination, and absolute configuration of barbatusol, a new bioactive diterpene with a rearranged abietane skeleton from the labiate Coleus barbatus. Tetrahedron 39(21): 3603-3608.
• [719] Kelecom, A., 1984. An abietane diterpene from the labiate Coleus barbatus. Phytochemistry 23(8): 1677-1679.
• [1277] Samuelsson, G. (Editor), 1992. Drugs of natural origin, a textbook of pharmacognosy. Swedish Pharmaceutical Press, Stockholm, Sweden. 320 pp.
• [1492] Valdés III, L.J., Mislankar, S.G. & Paul, A.G., 1987. Coleus barbatus (C. forskohlii) (Lamiaceae) and the potential new drug forskolin (coleonol). Economic Botany 41(4): 474-483.
• [1573] Wijesekera, R.O.B., 1991. The medicinal plant industry. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, United States. 269 pp.
• [1646] Zelnik, R., Lavie, D., Levy, E.C., Wang, A.H.J. & Paul, I.C., 1977. Barbatusin and cyclobutatusin, two novel diterpenoids from Coleus barbatus Bentham. Tetrahedron 33(12): 1457-1467.

Main genus page

• Plectranthus (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Mulyati Rahayu