Indian lungwort

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Indian lungwort
Indian lungwort Justicia adhatoda

Indian lungwort Justicia adhatoda

Systematics
Asterids
Euasterids I
Order : Mint family (Lamiales)
Family : Acanthus family (Acanthaceae)
Genre : Justicia
Type : Indian lungwort
Scientific name
Justicia adhatoda
L.

The Indian lungwort ( Justicia adhatoda ), also known as the Adhatoda plant, Malabar nut or Vasica, is a type of plant that belongs to the Acanthus family (Acanthaceae).

The original homeland is the Himalayan region of northern India . The plant species is cultivated.

description

Illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine, No. 861
Habitus
Leaves and inflorescences
Detail of an inflorescence with zygomorphic flowers

Vegetative characteristics

The Indian lungwort grows as a well-branched, evergreen, small, independently upright shrub that reaches heights of up to 2, rarely 2.5 meters. The branches are more or less square to almost stem-round. The bark is initially hairy grayish downy.

The opposite arranged leaves are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The petiole is usually stalked 1.5 to 3.5 (1 to 4.5) centimeters long. The simple leaf blade is elliptical-lanceolate with a length of 10 to 20 centimeters and a width of 3.5 to 8 centimeters, narrows towards the base of the blade and has a pointed upper end. The upper side of the leaf is glabrous and hairy on the leaf veins.

Generative characteristics

The terminal or lateral, spike-like inflorescences are up to 10 centimeters long and 2.5 to 3 centimeters wide. The downy hairy, foliage-like bracts are broad-elliptical with a length of 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters and a width of 1 to 1.5 (0.8 to 1.8) centimeters. The tiny downy hairy bracts are 1 to 1.5, rarely up to 2 centimeters and 0.3 to 0.5 centimeters wide, elliptical-elongated to lanceolate with a pointed upper end. The flower stalks are only short or hardly present.

The hermaphrodite flowers are zygomorphic with a length of about 3 centimeters and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five sepals are fused. The fluffy hairy calyx lobes are 6 to 10 millimeters long and about 2 millimeters wide, linear-lanceolate with a pointed upper end. The five white to purple petals are fused to form a 1.2 to 1.5 centimeter long corolla tube. The corolla tube is downy hairy on the outside and the crown throat is shaggy hairy. The crown is two-lipped; the upper lip is erect with two short corolla lobes and the lower lip is three-lobed with elliptical, blunt-ended corolla lobes. There are only two fertile stamens with 1 to 1.5 centimeters long stamens and elongated anthers. The ovary is elongated with a length of about 3 millimeters. The stylus is 2 to 2.5 inches long.

The stalked, downy hairy, club-shaped capsule fruit with a length of about 2.5 centimeters contains only four seeds each. The bare seeds are more or less spherical with a diameter of 2 to 3 millimeters.

The basic chromosome number is x = 17; there is diploidy with a chromosome number of 2n = 34.

Occurrence

The exact original homeland of Justicia adhatoda is not known. It is believed to be in the area of ​​Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Java and Malaysia.

Taxonomy

Justicia adhatoda was first published in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum , 1, page 15. Synonyms for Justicia adhatoda L. are: Adhatoda vasica Nees , Adhatoda ceylanica Nees , Adhatoda pubescens Moench , Dianthera latifolia Salisb. , Gendarussa adhatoda Steud. , Justicia caracasana Sieber .

use

Indian lungwort was already used 3000 years ago in the treatment of tuberculosis and against asthma . It was also used for snake bites , leprosy, and diarrhea . The quinolizidine alkaloid Vasicin can be obtained from the leaves . Vasicin dilates the bronchi and facilitates the drainage of secretions. Due to the effectiveness of this plant ingredient, bromhexine and ambroxol were synthesized in the 1960s .

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Kamal Akhtar Malik, Abdul Ghafoor: Justicia adhatoda at Tropicos.org. In: Catalog of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  2. ^ Justicia adhatoda at Tropicos.org. In: Flora of Panama (WFO) . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  3. ^ Justicia adhatoda at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  4. ^ A b Justicia in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  5. ^ Justicia adhatoda at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  6. ^ Synonyms and photo in Hortus Botanicus Catinensis of the Botanical Department of the University of Catania.
  7. ^ A b c Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke , Christoph Friedrich , Ulrich Meyer: Medicinal history . 2., revised. and exp. Ed. Wiss. Verl.-Ges, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-8047-2113-5 , pp. 185 .

Web links

Commons : Indian lungwort ( Justicia adhatoda )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files