Hormuzakia aggregata

Hormuzakia aggregata (Arabic: لسان الثور, Hebrew: לשון-שור מגובבת) is a flowering annual plant in the Borage family, known by the common name massed alkanet.[1][2][3]

Massed alkanet
Massed Alkanet flowers in Israel
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Asterids
Order:
(unplaced)
Family:
Boraginaceae
Genus:
Hormuzakia
Species:
H. aggregata
Binomial name
Hormuzakia aggregata
Lehm. Gușuleac
Synonyms
  • Anchusa aggregata Lehm.
  • Anchusa aggregata var. pedunculata Parsa
  • Anchusa axillaris Parsa
  • Anchusa micrantha Roem. & Schult.
  • Anchusa parviflora Sibth. & Sm.
  • Lycopsis glomerata Urv.

Description

It is a short-lived herbaceous plant with 10 to 50 cm (3.9 to 19.7 in) ascending hispid stems. The entire leaves are alternate, linear-lanceolate. It flowers from January to April, the small flowers are dark blue to violet producing 3 by 4 mm (0.12 by 0.16 in) hemispherical nutlets.[2]

Taxonomy

The species name Hormuzakia derives from Constantin N. Hurmuzachi, a prominent Romanian naturalist. Anchusa derives from the Greek: αγχουσα, a plant used as a rouge. The epithet aggregata, derives from Latin and means to bring together or cluster.

Distribution and habitat

It grows in Mediterranean woodlands, shrublands, shrub-steppes and deserts of Sicily, North East Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula, Libya, Algeria, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel, Rhodes, Saudi Arabia and the East Aegean Islands.[1][4]

Uses

The roots of Hormuzakia aggregata contain anchusin or alkannin (alkanet red), a red-brown resinoid pigment.[2][5] Alkannin is an antioxidant and has an antimicrobial effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. It is also known to have wound healing, antitumor, and antithrombotic properties.[6]

Alkannin is also found in the Chinese herbal medicine plant Lithospermum erythrorhizon, the red-root gromwell. The dried root is a Chinese herbal medicine with various antiviral and biological activities, including inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).[7][8][9]

References
  1. "Catalogue of Life : Hormuzakia aggregata (Lehm.) Gusuleac". www.catalogueoflife.org. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  2. "Anchusa aggregata". www.flowersinisrael.com. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  3. SELVI, F.; BIGAZZI, M. (1998-01-01). "Anchusa L. and allied genera (Boraginaceae) in Italy". Plant Biosystems. 132 (2): 113–142. doi:10.1080/11263504.1998.10654198. ISSN 1126-3504.
  4. "Hormuzakia aggregata (Lehm.) Gusuleac | Flora of Israel Online". Flora of Israel Online. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  5. "Alkannin | 517-88-4". www.chemicalbook.com. Retrieved 2017-05-11.
  6. Vassilios P. Papageorgiou; Andreana N. Assimopoulou; Elias A. Couladouros; David Hepworth; K. C. Nicolaou (1999). "The Chemistry and Biology of Alkannin, Shikonin, and Related Naphthazarin Natural Products". Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 38 (3): 270–300. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1521-3773(19990201)38:3<270::AID-ANIE270>3.0.CO;2-0.
  7. Chen, X (Sep 2003). "Shikonin, a component of chinese herbal medicine, inhibits chemokine receptor function and suppresses human immunodeficiency virus type 1". Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 47 (9): 2810–6. doi:10.1128/aac.47.9.2810-2816.2003. PMC 182643. PMID 12936978.
  8. Gao, H.; et al. (2011). "Anti-adenovirus activities of shikonin, a component of Chinese herbal medicine in vitro". Biol Pharm Bull. 34 (2): 197–202. doi:10.1248/bpb.34.197. PMID 21415527.
  9. Chen, J; Xie, J; Jiang, Z; Wang, B; Wang, Y; Hu, X (2011). "Shikonin and its analogs inhibit cancer cell glycolysis by targeting tumor pyruvate kinase-M2". Oncogene. 30 (42): 4297–4306. doi:10.1038/onc.2011.137. PMID 21516121.
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