Ruta chalepensis (Jansen, 1981)

← Rhamnus prinoides

Jansen, Spices and medicinal plants in Ethiopia Ruta chalepensis (Jansen, 1981)

Trachyspermum ammi →

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2.10 Ruta chalepensis L.

’Ruta’: old Latin plant name for rue; the same word means also bitterness, unpleasantness, perhaps referring to the strong smell or taste of rue.

’chalepensis’: originating from or first collected at Aleppo, Syria.

Linnaeus, Mantissa plantarum: p. 69 (1767).

Type: 'Habitat in Africa'. ’Ruta foliis supradecompositis, petalis ciliatis’ (Specimen LINN 537.4, holo.!).

Synonyms

• Ruta bracteosa DC, Prodr. 1: p. 710 ( 1824).
• Ruta chalepensis L. var. bracteosa (DC) Boiss., Flora Orient. 1: p. 922 (1867).
• Ruta chalepensis L. var. tenuifolia D'Urville, Enum. pl.: p. 44 (1822).
• Ruta graveolens L. var. bracteosa (DC) Oliver, Flora trop. Afr. 1: p.304 (1868).

Literature

• 1880: Willkomm & Lange, Prodr. fl. Hisp. 3: p. 516. (tax.)
• 1907: Pax, Die von Felix Rosen in Abyssinien gesammelten Pflanzen, Bot. Jahrb. 39: p. 628. (tax.)
• 1912: Chiovenda, Osservazioni botaniche, agrarie ed industriali, Monog. rapp. col. 24: p. 32. (use)
• 1925: Gams, Ruta, in: Hegi, Illustr. Fl. Mittel-Europ., ed. 1, B. 5, 1: p. 6.8-73. (tax. + use)
• 1931: Engler, Rutaceae, in: Engler & Prantl, Die nat. Pflanzenfam., ed. 2, B. 19a: p. 243-246. (tax. + use)
• 1946: Baldrati, Piante officinali dell' Africa orientale, Centra Studi Colon. 32: p. 110. (use)
• 1950: Baldrati, Trattato delle coltivazioni tropicali e sub-tropicali: p. 207. (use)
• 1956: Cufodontis, Enumeratio, Bull. Jard. Bot. État Brux. 26(3), suppl.: p. 368-369. (tax.)
• 1957: Cufodontis, Bemerkenswerte Nutz- und Kulturpflanzen Aethiopiens, Senck. Biol. 38, 5/6: p. 409. (use)
• 1960: Lemordant, Les plantes éthiopiennes: p. 51. (use)
• 1961: Garnier et al., Ressources médicinales de la flore française, 1: p. 651--653. (use)
• 1963: Siegenthaler, Useful plants of Ethiopia, Exp. Stn. Bull. 14: p. 18. (use)
• 1967: Townsend, Ruta, in: Flora of Turkey, 2: p. 495-496. (tax.)
• 1968: Townsend, Ruta, in: Flora Europaea, 2: p. 227. (tax.)

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• 1974: Gessner & Orzechowski, Gift- und Arzneipflanzen von Mittel-europa, ed. 3: p. 311-312. (use)
• 1976- 1977: Kloos, Preliminary studies of Medicinal plants and plant products in markets of central Ethiopia, Ethnomedicine, B. 4, 1/2: p. 85. (use)
• 1977: Fournier,Les quatre flores de France, ed. 2, 1: p. 629-630; 2: p. 168. (tax.)
• 1977: Jafri, Flora of Libya 50: p. 2-4. (tax.)

Local names

• tenadam, adam, taladdam, gulla (Amarinia)
• dehn, tenadam (Tigrinia)
• talatam, talles, dscharta (Gallinia)

Trade names

• rue, herb of grace (English)
• rue, rue des jardins, grande rue, rue d'Algérie (French)
• Raute, Weinraute, Gartenraute, Kreuzraute (German).

Geographic distribution

R. chalepensis is indigenous to the Mediterranean area, the Canary Islands, Arabia and Somalia. In many countries all over the world, it is cultivated.

In Ethiopia, it is reported from all provinces as a cultivated herb in almost every garden (Engler, 1907; Cufodontis, 1956, 1957; Siegenthaler, 1963; Herb. FT, K, P, WAG).

Description

An erect perennial herb, becoming woody at base, up to 1.5 m high, all green parts glabrous and glandular punctate, usually with a white waxy cover, strongly smelling.

• Stems terete, up to 1 cm in diam. at base, branched at all heights, light-green to blue-green.
• Leaves alternate, bi- or tri-pinnately compound, ovate in outline, up to 5-13 x 3-9 cm. Petiole terete, 0-4 cm long. Blade with opposite or alternate leaflets, each leaflet again pinnately or bi-pinnately compound, the ultimate segments narrowly ovate to spathulate, 5-30 x 1-5 mm, usually sub-entire and blue-green; the lowest leaflets often stipule-like, up to 2.5 cm long.
• Inflorescence corymb-like with irregular, cymose branching, each branch subtended by a heart-shaped, blue-green, usually simple bract, up to 16 x 9 mm, sometimes trifoliolate and up to 2.5 cm long, margins irregularly crenate, the lower bracts always wider than the branch they subtend. Pedicels terete, blue-green, ca 0.5-2 cm long. Central flowers usually 5-merous, the others 4-merous, but very seldom 2-, 3-, or 6-merous flowers occur also. All flowers protandrous.
• Calyx with 4 or 5 triangular se pals, connate at the base only, ca 2-6 x 1-4 mm, margins crenate, blue-green.
• Corolla: petals 4 or 5, free, boat-shaped, ca 4-8 x 3-6 mm in outline, yellow-green outside, yellow inside, glandular punctate, with an undulating, fimbriate upper margin (threads up to 2 x 0.5 mm) and a short claw of ca 1-2 x 0.5-1 mm.
• Androecium with 8 or 10 obdiplostemonous stamens; filaments narrowly triangular, ca 3.5-7 mm long and ca 0.5-1 mm wide at base, light-green; anthers basifixed, 2-celled, ca 1-2 x 0.75-1.25 mm, yellow, dehiscing by lateral longitudinal slits. Disk annular, fleshy, ruminate when dried, 1.5-3 mm in diam., 0.5-1.5 mm high, in the middle outside with a ring of brownish glands.

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• Gynoecium: ovary ca ovoid in outline, ca 2-4 x 2-3.5 mm, composed of 4 or 5 carpels, only connate from base to half their length, acute at top; surface of ovary densely glandular punctate to sub-papillate, dark-green; styles 4 or 5, connate where the carpels are separate, up to 5 mm long, light-green; stigmas 4 or 5, connate, capitate, papillate, dark-green.
• Fruit a capsule, globose in outline, usually shallowly lobed, ca 5-7 x 5-8 mm, light-green to dark-brown, densely muriculate; each carpel usually with a slightly impressed, central, dorsal longitudinal line, dehiscing apically, by a short ventral longitudinal slit, 5-1 0-seeded.
• Seeds: lunate, ca 1.5-2.5 x 1-1.5 x 1-1.5 mm, with 3-4 sharp sides, more or less whitish rugose, usually dark-brown; embryo slighty curved, yellowish, ca 1.5 x 0.3 mm, with a conical radicle and 2 filiform cotyledons, the whole embedded in grey endosperm.
• Seedling: germination epigeal; with a yellow-white taproot and side roots; hypocotyl ca 5-8 mm long, glabrous, yellow-white or dark-purple; cotyledons opposite, with a ca 2-4 mm long petiole and an oblong, entire blade of ca 4-7 x 1.5-2 mm, blue-green and glandular punctate like the following leaves; the first leaves after the cotyledons petiolate, trifoliolate.

Taxonomic notes

(1) Linnaeus described R. chalepensis in Mant. Pl. (1767) as: ’Ruta foliis supradecompositis, petalis ciliatis’, and referred to : 'α. Ruta chalepensis latifolia, petalis villis scatentibus. Tournef. inst. 257' and to 'β. Ruta chalepensis angustifolia, petalis villis scatentibus. Moris. hist. 2. p. 508. s. 5. t. 35. f. 8'. These two references Linnaeus considered as varieties. He extended the description with: 'Simillima R. graveolenti ejusque progenies. Primi flores 5 fidi, reliqui 4 fidi. Petala concava, margineque undulata, ut in R. graveol. sed caulis altior. Petala margine ciliata, capsulae lobi acuti, obtusi. β. differt petalorum unguibus longioribus, capsulaeque lobis approximatis, nec distantibus', and remarked that the plant was grown in 'Hort. Upsal.'. Only from one herbarium specimen it is evident that Linnaeus identified it as R. chalepensis: specimen LINN 537.4, as it bears the Linnaean inscription ’chalepensis’. Another inscription on the sheet ('HU') might indicate that the plant orginated from the Hort. Ups. Unfortunately specimen LINN 537.4 shows (apart from leaves) only fruits, no flowers. This specimen is, however, certainly in agreement with the (extended) description and I consider LINN 537.4 as the holotype.of Ruta chalepensis L.

(2) Later authors generally subdivided R. chalepensis L. into two varieties: var. bracteosa (DC) Boiss. ('bracteae cordato-ovatae vel lanceolatae ramulo latiores') and var. angustifolia (Pers.) Willk. & Lange (... 'bracteis parvis lanceolatis ramo angustioribus ... '). Some authors considered R. chalepensis L. var. bracteosa (DC) Boiss. as identical with R. chalepensis L. and R. angustifolia Pers. as a separate species. Until there is a critical revision of the genus Ruta, I prefer to treat R. chalepensis as not divided into varieties. R. angustifolia Pers. has not, as yet, been recorded from Ethiopia. According to Townsend (1968) it can be distinguished from R. chalepensis as follows:

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Fig. 11. Ruta chalepensis L. - 1. branch with leaves and habit upper plant part (⅔x); 2. branch with bract (2x); 3. flower, 4-merous (3x); 4. sepal (6x); 5. petai (6x); 6. fruit (4x); 7. seed (10x); 8. seedling (⅔x).- 1-5. PJ 6464; 6-7. PJ 1551; 8. PJ 2082 (spirit mat. too).

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• narrower leaf-segments, up to 3.5 mm wide;
• lanceolate bracts, not or scarcely wider than the subtended branch;
• glandular-puberulent inflorescences;
• petal-cilia, up to as long as the width of the petal.

(3) If a subsidivion of R. chalepensis L. is necessary or desirable, the Ethiopian Ruta material studied here best fits R. chalepensis L. var. chalepensis, with LINN 537.4 as its type and perhaps with R. bracteosa DC ( = R. chalepensis L. var. bracteosa (DC) Boiss. and R. chalepensis L. var. tenuifolia D'Urville) as synonyms.

(4) Ruta graveolens L., perhaps the best known rue, has not been recorded from Ethiopia. It much resembles R. chalepensis but can be distinguished from it by its denticulate, not fimbriate petals.

(5) The description is based on the following specimens:

Hararge Kefa Shoa Sidamo Wollega Grown at Alemaya, cultivated at College of Agriculture: PJ 2082, PJ 2811, PJ 4819, PJ 5123, PJ 6464; Alemaya, near College-gate on road to Kombolcha, in garden: WP 396, WP 455, PJ 1759; Dire Dawa market: WP 152, PJ 1046; Hamaressa market (near Harar): Tadessa Ebba 505; Harar market: Bos 8036, Bos 8369, Bos 8376, PJ 1551. Jimma, Institute of Agriculture, spice garden: PJ 5845; Jimma market: WP 3283. Bulbulla market: PJ 3912; Debre Zeit, Experimental Station: WP 1966; Kolito market: WP 2852. Soddo, in garden: F. G. Meyer 8763, PJ 3715. Ghimbi market: PJ 1191; Nekemt market: PJ 1192. Wageningen WP 6182, WP 8653.

The following specimens, originating from Ethiopia, were seen: C. C. Albers 62021 (Lasta province, Lalibela, 1-11-1962) (K); Amare Getahun B-12 (Alemaya, 28-5-1958) (K); Armbruster & R. E. Massey s.n. (Addis A baba, Jan. 1914) (K); I. Baldrati D20 (Asmara) (FT); A. Bellini 263 (Adi Ugri, 13-7-1909) (FT); P. Benedetto 241 (Sajo-Dembidollo, Aug. 1938) (FT); R. Bricchetti 254 (Harar, 1889) (FT); L. Buscalioni 538 (Dire Dawa-Harar, 7-2-1916) (FT), 1072 (Acachi, 27-3-1916) (FT); R. Cacciapuoti 1 (Wollega, Bologna, 2-11-1941) (FT); E. Chiovenda 1752 (Gondar, 31-8-1909) (FT); G. Giordano 810 (Bosco di Mannagaccia, 12-6-1937) (FT); M. Gutetta 1031 (Din-din forest, Arussi, 40°15'E x 8°35'N, March 1976) (K); F. G. Meyer 8763 (K); H.F. Mooney 5030 (Addis Ababa, 29-11-1953) (K, FT), 7580 (Addis Ababa, 25-10-1958) (K); R. Pichi-Sermolli 256 (Parte merid. della penisola di Zeghiè, 14-2-1937) (FT); Quartin-Dillon et Petit s.n. (Assai, 19-9-1839) (P), s.n. (Choa) (P), s.n. (Abyssinie) (P), 246 (ex herb. de Franqueville) (P, K), s.n. (Etchelicote) (P), s.n. (Abyssinia, Choa, 1862) (K); Ragazzi s.n. (Shoa, 24, 1888) (FT); W. Schimper s.n. (P); Schimper 531 (Addi Dschoa, 8-7-1862) (BM); H. Scott 251 (Debarek market, 12-11.1952) (K); L. Senni 85 (Addis Ababa, 18-1-1938) (FT), 166 (Addis Ababa, 19-2-1937) (FT), 1281 (Addis Ababa, 6-8-1937) (FT); Tadessa Ebba 505 (K).

For the following section, information recorded in literature for R. graveolens L. has also been used, as the use and growth of R. chalepensis is almost identical.

Ecology

R. chalepensis grows in the wild on warm dry rocky limestone slopes and fields, in Turkey up to 300 m, in France up to 500 m altitude (Gams, 1925; Garnier et al., 1961; Townsend, 1967).

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In Ethiopia it is cultivated between the altitudes 1500-2000 m. R. chalepensis has protandrous flowers. The stamens do not develop all at once but one after the other. At maturity a stamen turns towards the centre of the flower, the anther dehisces its pollen and the stamen turns back. In this way the male flowering time is lengthened and the chance of shedding the pollen on a visiting insect increased, as insects usually stand on the ovary to reach the nectar which is present on the disc. Probably because of its strong smell, the flower is often visited by rubbish-visiting flies. At the end of male flowering, the style lengthens and rises above the ovary lobes and the stigma becomes receptive. Cross-pollination is normal, but, as the anthers can approach the stigma because of the wilting process of the stamens, some self-pollination might occur (Knuth, 1898).

Husbandry

Ruta chalepensis is grown from seed or propagated by splitting of older plants. It grows on ali kinds of soils, provided they are not too wet. It even grows on dry rocky soils (Gams, 1925; Garnier et al., 1961 ).

At Alemaya, seed germinated ca 1.5-2 months after sowing, and flowering started ca 3-5 months later. Flowering and fruiting continued permanently, with optima after rains. In Ethiopia, some plants of R. chalepensis are cultivated for direct use near almost every house with a garden. As it is an easy-growing perennial plant, no special methods of cultivation were observed. Once the plants start growth, they can

Photograph 18. Ruta chalepensis, flowers, PJ 1046.

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be harvested for several years at almost any time of the year. On the Ethiopian markets, either dry fruits only, or fresh or dried stem-parts with leaves, flowers and fruits are offered for sale.

In France the plants are sometimes cultivated in rows, ca 80 cm between and ca 40 cm within the rows. The upper plant-parts are harvested twice a year (in spring and in autumn) and are usually dried quickly (Garnier et al., 1961).

According to Gams (1925), germination of the seed is promoted by darkness and frost. Gams (1925) reported Sphaerella rhea Fautr. as a leaf-spot disease on Ruta. Stewart & Dagnatchew (1967) observed in Shoa Province, Ethiopia, Alternaria tenuissima (Nees ex Fr.) Wiltshire on the stem.

Uses

Culinary uses

It is known that the Romans used Ruta as a spice. As a culinary herb, it now is almost absent in Europe, although Gams (1925) reported some use as a spice for salads and cakes.

In Ethiopia, the use of Ruta as a culinary herb is very common. Ground mature fruits are an ingredient of the spicy Capsicum sauce 'berbere'. Washed leaves are added to sour milk in order to make a local cheese. Fresh leaves are also used to flavour a beverage called 'kuti', which is prepared by infusing coffee leaves (Cufodontis, 1957; Asrat, 1962; Ketema, 1962; Telahun, 1962; Siegenthaler, 1963).

Medicinal uses

In the past the use of Ruta as a medicinal plant was perhaps more important than as a spice. At present its medicinal use is rather restricted because of its unpleasant, sometimes dangerous, secondary effects. Both the herb and its essential oil have been widely used in the past as a stomachic, a colic remedy, an emmenagogue, an abortifacient and an anthelmintic, as well as in hysteria and epilepsy. The oil has frequently been used to induce abortion, although in ordinary doses it appears to have practically no effect on the uterus. The oil, if repeatedly applied to the skin, causes burning, redness and blistering. If taken internally in large doses, gastroenteritis associated with severe epigastric pain, vomiting, prostration, confusion of mind, convulsive twitches and, in pregnant women, abortion, may result (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962).

In South Africa, a decoction of the leaf of Ruta is used against fevers. Leaf sap is given to infants and children with convulsions and fits, and the bruised leaf is placed in hollow teeth and in the ears to relieve toothache and earache, respectively. An infusion or a wine tincture of the leaf is regarded as hypnotic and is taken by adults suffering from respiratory and heart diseases (Watt & Breyer- Brandwijk, 1962).

In Ethiopia Ruta is considered as an important medicinal plant. The Amarinia

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name 'tenadam' means 'health of Adam'. The following uses were observed or reported: *A decoction of plant parts, mixed with tea, is drunk against headache, cold, heart-pain, earache and intestinal disorders. Sometimes garlic or Cymbopogon citratus decoctions are added when used against intestinal pains (Cufodontis, 1957; Lemordant, 1960);

• Ground and dried fruits, boiled in milk, are used against diarrhoea (Lemordant, 1960; 1971 );
• The juice of crushed leaves, mixed with water is given to babies against colic (Baldrati, 1946; Siegenthaler, 1963);
• Plant parts boiled in local beer or prepared together with 'wot' are used against influenza (Lemordant, 1960, 1971; Gelahun, pers. comm., 1976);
• Ground plant parts are an ingredient of an ointment used against haemorrhoids (Lemordant, 1960; 1971);
• The plant is believed to have disinfectant properties (Chiovenda, 1912).

Chemical composition

Ruta chalepensis contains an essential oil, which can be obtained by steam distillation. It is a yellow-green oil tasting and smelling bitter, with a bluish-violet fluorescence, present up to 0.6% in plants growing in the wild and up to 0.08% in fresh cultivated plants or ca 0.1% in dried cultivated plants (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). This oil contains up to ca 80% methyl-n-heptylketon and ca 10% methylnonylketon (in R. graveolens the ratio of the substances is exactly the reverse) (Garnier et al., 1961). The yellow colour of the petals is caused by the presence of rutin, which is a rhamno-glucoside of quercetin. Rutin is a substance which has a constrictor action on the capillary bed and decreases the permeability and the fragility of the vessels (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). Fresh leaves contain 390mg vitamin C per 100 g (Garnier et al., 1961).