Hyptis spicigera (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Hyptis spicigera Lamk
- Protologue: Encycl. 3: 185 (1789).
- Family: Labiatae
Synonyms
- Mesosphaerum spicigerum (Lamk) O. Kunth,
- Pycnanthemum elongatum Blanco.
Vernacular names
- Black sesame, beni (En)
- Indonesia: babalu bugis (Sulawesi), mossolan (Alor)
- Philippines: katong matsin (Pilipino, Tagalog), kilongkogong, loko-loko, kalu-ui (Bisaya), amotan (Bikolano), bangbangsit (Ilokano), kabling kabayo (Tagalog), ikugkuting (Sulu).
Distribution
Native to tropical America but its native range is obscure because it has been introduced and naturalized pantropically, including in South-East Asia. In South-East Asia it has been observed in Indonesia (Kalimantan, Lesser Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, Sulawesi) and in the Philippines (Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Palawan).
Uses
The seed contains a fixed oil which is comparable to linseed oil and, in common with all aerial parts, an essential oil. The fixed oil is used in cooking and the essential oil as spice, medicine and insect repellent. In Senegal, the drying fixed oil has been used as a substitute for linseed oil in railway workshops. In large parts of Africa (Guinea, central and eastern Africa) H. spicigera is cultivated for the seed which is eaten roasted like sesame. In Sudan and Central Africa it is also an ingredient in stews and sauces. The aerial parts are used in Africa as food flavouring and for medicinal purposes.
The whole plant and leaves are commonly used in traditional medicine in Africa, e.g as febrifuge, bechic and expectorant and to treat bronchial troubles, headache, dysentery, wounds, skin diseases and ophthalmia. In northern Nigeria, it is used for making soaps, lotions, perfumes, and is included in medicinal baths to treat skin diseases. In Senegal, the plant is utilized for embalming corpses, added to skin formulations, taken as tea to relieve cough and as an expectorant to treat bronchitis. In Mexico, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone, plant parts are put in grain containers to control insect infestation, e.g. larvae of Callosobruchus sp. As the plant is strongly scented; the whole plant is burned to repel mosquitoes and termites.
Observations
- An erect, aromatic, annual herb, 1-1.5 m tall with scabrous and subglabrous branches.
- Leaves opposite, herbaceous; petiole up to 2.5 cm long; blade lanceolate to elliptical-lanceolate, 2.5-6 cm × 1-3 cm, base acuminate, decurrent, margin serrulate, apex acute or acuminate, glabrous or glabrescent on both surfaces.
- Inflorescence a terminal or axillary, many-flowered verticillaster, looking like a dense spike or head, 1-1.5 cm long, enlarging in fruit up to 4.5 cm; bracts subulate, 3-4 mm long, setaceous.
- Flowers purplish, pale blue or violet; calyx tubular, 4-5 mm long, in fruit 6-7 mm, ribbed, reticulate, teeth subulate, 2 mm long, setaceous.
- Fruit consisting of 4 ellipsoid, compressed nutlets, about 1 mm long, finely granulate.
H. spicigera grows in waste places, wet rice fields, on coastal coral limestone and in open dry grasslands, from sea-level up to 900 m altitude, locally gregariously. It flowers and fruits year-round and in very dry seasons (e.g. in Sulawesi) the leaves are shed. The seed of H. spicigera yields about 20-40% of a yellow, drying, fixed oil which is characterized by a high content of linolenic acid. The oil is of equal or superior drying quality to that of linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.). The seed also contains protein but no starch, tannins or alkaloids. The aerial parts contain essential oil mainly composed of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (75%) with a high percentage of β-caryophyllene (60%), and α-pinene (4%), sabinene (4%), α-humulene (3%). Fatty acid derivatives including fatty acid esters may contribute to the fragrance of the oil. Ethanol extracts of the plant showed positive effects in reducing the oviposition and hatching of bean weevils. Aerial parts of H. spicigera from Mexico contained several labdane diterpenes with insecticidal properties, including 15,19-diacetoxy-2α,7α-dihydroxy,λ-8(17),(13Ζ)-diene, which significantly inhibits larval growth of the European corn borer Ostrinia nubilalis. From inflorescences in Burkina Faso #d-lactone was isolated showing insecticidal properties. Because H. spicigera seed yields a fixed oil of equal or superior quality to commercial linseed oil and the aerial parts contain essential oil, the plant deserves further evaluation as a possible commercial source of industrial oil, perfume, herbal medicine and insecticide also in South-East Asia.
Selected sources
120, 247. medicinals
7, 42, 44, 66, 93. oils
Main genus page
Authors
- Rini Sasanti Handayani
