Eupatorium cannabinum

Eupatorium cannabinum, commonly known as hemp-agrimony,[2] or holy rope,[3] is a herbaceous plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a robust perennial native to Europe, NW. Africa, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, the Caucasus and Central Asia.[4][3][5] It is cultivated as an ornamental and occasionally found as a garden escape in scattered locations in China,[6] the United States and Canada.[7][8] It is extremely attractive to butterflies, much like buddleia.[9]

Eupatorium cannabinum
IJmuiden, Netherlands
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Eupatorium
Species:
E. cannabinum
Binomial name
Eupatorium cannabinum
Synonyms[1]
Synonymy
  • Chrone heterophylla Dulac
  • Cunigunda vulgaris Bubani
  • Eupatorium allaisii Sennen
  • Eupatorium argenteum Wallich
  • Eupatorium birmanicum DC.
  • Eupatorium cannabis-folium Gilib.
  • Eupatorium caucasicum Steven
  • Eupatorium corsicum Req. ex Loisel.
  • Eupatorium dicline Edgew.
  • Eupatorium finlaysonianum Wallich ex DC.
  • Eupatorium heterophyllum DC.
  • Eupatorium hyrcanicum Steven
  • Eupatorium lambertianum Wallich
  • Eupatorium lemassonii Biau
  • Eupatorium lindleyanum F.Muell. 1865 not DC. 1836
  • Eupatorium longicaule Wallich ex DC.
  • Eupatorium mairei H.Lév.
  • Eupatorium ponticum Georgi
  • Eupatorium punduanum Wallichex DC.
  • Eupatorium simonsii C.B.Clarke
  • Eupatorium soleirolii Loisel.
  • Eupatorium suaveolens Wallich
  • Eupatorium trifidum Vahl
  • Eupatorium trifoliatum hort. dorp. ex Stev.
  • Eupatorium variifolium Bartl.
  • Eupatorium viscosum Wallich
  • Mikania longicaulis Wallich

If the genus Eupatorium is defined in a restricted sense (about 42 species), E. cannabinum is the only species of that genus native to Europe (with the remainder in Asia or North America).[10]

Description

Eupatorium cannabinum is a perennial herb up to 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) tall or more and 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) wide.[5] The plant has a dark red or purplish stem, covered in small hairs. It lives in moist low-lying areas in temperate Eurasia. It is dioecious, with racemes of mauve flower heads which are pollinated by insects from July to early September. The flowers are visited by many types of insects, and can be characterized by a generalized pollination syndrome.[11] The flower heads are tiny, fluffy and can be pale dusty pink or whitish.[5] The fruit is an achene about 2 or 3 mm long, borne by a pappus with hairs 3 to 5 mm long, which is distributed by the wind. The plant over-winters as a hemicryptophyte.[10]

Toxicity

Eupatorium cannabinum contains tumorigenic pyrrolizidine alkaloids.[12] The alkaloids may be present in the plant material as their N-oxides.[13]

Pharmacology

Chemistry and use in European folk medicine

Eupatorium cannabinum is used in the European traditional medicine as anti-inflammatory agent for respiratory tract diseases, and several of its sesquiterpene lactone constituents were identified to have anti-inflammatory effect in isolated human neutrophils, with the anti-inflammatory action of the sesquiterpene lactone eupatoriopicrin being verified also in mouse peritonitis model.[14]

Use to stop bleeding in folk medicine of Sikkim

E. cannabinum, known locally by the Nepali names of Banmara and Kalijhar, is used as a styptic in the traditional medicine of the Indian state of Sikkim in the Eastern Himalayas (to which the plant is not native, but an introduction).[15][4]

The leaves and tender stems are crushed fresh and the juice is applied to cuts and bruises. Sometimes, when the wound is large, the squeezed remains of the plant are placed over the wound in the form of a poultice. The bleeding stops immediately and the wound is protected from infection. [15]

Subspecies
  • Eupatorium cannabinum L. subsp. cannabinum - most of species range
  • Eupatorium cannabinum L. subsp. corsicum (Req. ex Loisel.) P.Fourn. - Corsica, Sardinia, Basilicata, Apulia

References
  1. The Plant List, Eupatorium cannabinum L.
  2. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  3. Altervista Flora Italiana, Holy Rope, gewöhnlicher Wasserdost, hampflockel, Canapa acquatica includes photos and European distribution map
  4. Kew Plants of the World Online https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:205581-1 Retrieved at 12.31 on Friday 13/1/23.
  5. "Botanica. The Illustrated AZ of over 10000 garden plants and how to cultivate them", p 359. Könemann, 2004. ISBN 3-8331-1253-0
  6. Flora of China, Eupatorium cannabinum Linnaeus, 1753. 大麻叶泽兰 da ma ye ze lan
  7. "Eupatorium cannabinum". Flora of North America.
  8. Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  9. Wildlife Trusts - Hemp Agrimony
  10. Schmidt, Gregory J.; Schilling, Edward E. (2000). "Phylogeny and biogeography of Eupatorium (Asteraceae: Eupatorieae) based on nuclear ITS sequence data". Am. J. Bot. 87 (5): 716–726. doi:10.2307/2656858. JSTOR 2656858. PMID 10811796.
  11. Van Der Kooi, C. J.; Pen, I.; Staal, M.; Stavenga, D. G.; Elzenga, J. T. M. (2016). "Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers". Plant Biology. 18 (1): 56–62. doi:10.1111/plb.12328. PMID 25754608.
  12. Fu, P.P., Yang, Y.C., Xia, Q., Chou, M.C., Cui, Y.Y., Lin G., "Pyrrolizidine alkaloids-tumorigenic components in Chinese herbal medicines and dietary supplements", Journal of Food and Drug Analysis, Vol. 10, No. 4, 2002, pp. 198-211
  13. Woerdenbag, H. J. (October 1986). "Eupatorium cannabinum L.". Pharmaceutisch Weekblad Scientific Edition. 8 (5): 245–251. doi:10.1007/bf01960068. ISSN 0167-6555. PMID 3537953. S2CID 26403365.
  14. Michalak, B; Piwowarski, JP; Granica, S; Waltenberger, B; Atanasov, AG; Khan, SY; Breuss, JM; Uhrin, P; Żyżyńska-Granica, B; Stojakowska, A; Stuppner, H; Kiss, AK (Feb 2019). "Eupatoriopicrin Inhibits Pro-inflammatory Functions of Neutrophils via Suppression of IL-8 and TNF-alpha Production and p38 and ERK 1/2 MAP Kinases". J. Nat. Prod. 82 (2): 375–385. doi:10.1021/acs.jnatprod.8b00939. PMID 30653318.
  15. Rai, Lalitkumar and Sharma, Eklabyar Medicinal Plants of the Sikkim Himalaya: Status, Uses and Potential, pub. Govind Ballabh Pant Inst. Bishen Singh & Mahendra Pal Singh 1994 page 39.

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