Borreria verticillata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Borreria verticillata (L.) G. Mey.

Protologue: Prim. fl. esseq.: 83 (1818).

Synonyms

• Spermacoce verticillata L. (1753),
• Spermacoce globosa Schum. & Thonn. (1827).

Distribution

Native of tropical America, now also distributed in Africa, Indo-China, and rather rare in South-East Asia.

Uses

In Java, it was formerly cultivated for its emetic and stomachic properties. In Africa and Mexico, the leaves are reputed to be used for treating skin problems such as lepra, furuncles and ulcers. In Ivory Coast and Central America, an infusion of the leaves is used for diarrhoea, but also as a purgative. They are diuretic and applied for schistosomiasis, kidney problems, fever and blennorrhagia.

Observations

• A perennial bushy herb or subshrub, 30-120 cm tall, sometimes sprawling, young stems quadrangular, tough, internodes long.
• Leaves 2-4 together, narrowly lanceolate, 1-4.5 cm × 0.2-0.5 cm, acute at both ends, margins scabrous, midvein prominent, rough underneath.
• Fascicle terminal and axillary, dense, head-like.
• Calyx 2-lobed, cuspidate, 1-–1.4 mm long, corolla campanulate, 1.5–-2.5 mm long, inside pilose at base, white, sometimes tinged red.
• Capsule obovoid, compressed, 1.5-2.5 mm long, wrinkled, shortly pubescent.
• Seed oblong, with a longitudinal groove, brown.

B. verticillata occurs in thickets, fields and waste places, often as a weed.

Selected sources

• [134] Burkill, H.M., 1985—2000. The useful plants of West tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. 5 volumes. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Vol. 1 (1985), Families A—D, 960 pp.; Vol. 2 (1994), Families E—I, 636 pp.; Vol. 3 (1995), Families J—L, 857 pp.; Vol. 4 (1997), Families M—R, 969 pp; Vol. 5 (2000), Families S—Z, 686 pp.
• [135] 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.
• [696] Morton, J.F., 1981. Atlas of medicinal plants of Middle America. Bahamas to Yucatan. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, United States. 1420 pp.
• [838] A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon (various editors), 1980—2000. Volume 1—9. Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi, India. Volume 10—14. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
• [855] Sainty, D., Bailleul, F., Delaveau, P. & Jacquemin, H., 1981. Iridoides du Borreria verticillata [Iridoids of Borreria verticillata]. Planta Medica 42(3): 260—264.

Main genus page

• Borreria

Authors

• L.M. Noriel