Sphaeranthus indicus (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Sphaeranthus indicus L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 2: 927 (1753)

Family: Compositae

Sphaeranthus indicus L. - 1, flowering branch; 2, flower head; 3, marginal flower; 4, disk flower; 5, achene of marginal flower

Synonyms

• Sphaeranthus hirtus Willd. (1801),
• Sphaeranthus mollis Roxb. ex DC. (1814).

Vernacular names

• East Indian globe thistle (En)
• Indonesia: sembung, ki heuleut (Sundanese), brincil (Javanese)
• Laos: khi khoay (Louang-Prabang)
• Thailand: matom suea
• Vietnam: cúc chân vịt, cỏ trứng vịt.

Distribution

S. indicus originates from India, and is now spread throughout the Old World tropics, including China and Australia, as a weed. In Malesia, it is not recorded for Borneo, the Moluccas or Papua New Guinea.

Uses

The red essential oil of S. indicus resembles lavender oil and can be distilled from the herb. It is widely used for its antibacterial properties. In India, the ground bark may be a useful application for haemorrhoids, the juice is taken for liver and gastric disorders; the paste made with oil is applied in itch; the powdered seeds and roots are given as an anthelmintic; the root decoction is used in chest pains, cough and bowel complaints, while the flowers are credited with alterative, depurative and tonic properties.In India the plant is employed against skin diseases and urinary problems.

Observations

• Annual herb, up to 50 cm tall, very aromatic and often sticky (glandular on most parts).
• Stem with broad, coarsely toothed wings, divaricately branched, especially in the top part.
• Leaves alternate; blade oblong-obovate to subspatulate, 1-8 cm × 0.5-2.5 cm, base tapering, margins coarsely dentate, apex rounded and mucronate.
• Inflorescence a globose-ellipsoid head, 12-15 mm long, purple at anthesis; peduncle 2-4 cm long, with broad, deeply crenate wings; heads small and numerous, on very short secondary receptacles; receptacle ovate; involucral bracts about 20, lanceolate, 3 mm long, whitish, purple-tipped, in upper half densely hairy and glandular.
• Marginal (ray) flowers about 10, female, with 2 mm long corolla tube 2-3-dentate at apex; central (disk) flowers usually 3(-5), bisexual, corolla flask-shaped, lower part becoming swollen, hardened and persistent at maturity, 1 mm across, upper part narrowly cylindrical, glandular, 3 mm long, 5-dentate, flowers purple; anthers 5, white, enclosing the densely hairy style with 2-lobed stigma.
• Fruit of the disk flowers an achene, ovoid-oblong, 4-5-angled, 1 mm long, with patent erect hairs but without glands.

S. indicus is common on desiccated rice fields and along ditches, often gregarious, especially on heavy soils, up to 1200 m altitude. In Java flowering is from May to February, in India from September to March. It is a weed of minor agricultural importance, easily removed manually. It much resembles the also widespread S. africanus L., which however has entire wings on the stem and globose flower heads with about 10 involucral bracts.

Selected sources

• [43] Alam, S.M., 1990. Effect of wild plant extracts on germination and seedling growth of wheat. Rachis 9(2): 12—13.
• [69] Atta-ur-Rahman, Choudhary, M.I., Athar, A., Muzaffar, A., Afgan, F., Shahnaz, P., Shekhani, M.S. & Nuhzat, A., 1994. Microbial transformations of 7 -hydroxyfrullanolide. Journal of Natural Products 57(9): 1251—1255.
• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol.1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol.2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.).
• [215] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948—1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [339] Garg, S.C. & Kasera, H.L., 1983. In vitro antibacterial activity of the essential oil of Sphaeranthus indicus L. Fitoterapia 54(1): 37—39.
• Groom, N., 1997. The new perfume handbook. 2nd edition. Blackie Academic & Professional, London, United Kingdom. 435 pp.
• [407] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• [604] Li, H.-L., 1978. Compositae. In: Li, H.-L., Liu, T.-S., Huang, T.-C., Koyama, T. & DeVol, C.E. (Editors): Flora of Taiwan. Vol. 4. Epoch Publishing Co., Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. pp. 768—965.
• [739] Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
• [767] Oyen, L.P.A. & Nguyen Xuan Dung (Editors), 1999. Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 19. Essential-oil plants. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, the Netherlands. 277 pp.
• [951] Soerjani, M., Kostermans, A.J.G.H. & Tjitrosoepomo, G. (Editors), 1987. Weeds of rice in Indonesia. Balai Pustaka, Jakarta, Indonesia. 716 pp.

Main genus page

• Sphaeranthus

Authors

• P.C.M. Jansen
• Wongsatit Chuakul, Noppamas Soonthornchareonnon, Orawan Ruangsomboon