Boerhavia diffusa

Boerhaavia diffusa is a species of flowering plant in the four o'clock family which is commonly known as punarnava (meaning that which rejuvenates or renews the body in Ayurveda),[2] red spiderling,[1] spreading hogweed,[1] or tarvine.[1] It is taken in herbal medicine for pain relief and other uses. The leaves of Boerhaavia diffusa are often used as a green vegetable in many parts of India.

Boerhavia diffusa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Nyctaginaceae
Genus: Boerhavia
Species:
B. diffusa
Binomial name
Boerhavia diffusa

Description
A small bird with tiny sticky fruit stuck below the eye
Fruit of B. diffusa stuck to face of juvenile sooty tern

Boerhaavia diffusa is widely dispersed, occurring throughout India, the Pacific, and southern United States. Flowers are small, around 5 mm in diameter. Pollens are round, roughly 65 microns in diameter.

Pollen

This wide range is explained by its small fruit, which are very sticky and grow a few inches off the ground, ideally placed to latch on to small migratory birds as they walk by.[3]

Habit

A creeping, perennial, much-branched herb with stout fusi form roots.

Stem

Branches divaricate, stem purplish, thickened at nodes.

Leaves

Opposite, oblique, ovate or sub orbicular, rounded, entire, margins slightly pinkish, wavy, lower surface with small, white scales, base rounded.

Inflorescence

Small umbels forming Corymbose, axillary and terminal panicle.

Flowers

  • Bracteoles, acute. Perianth -tube constricted above the ovary, limb funnel-shaped, dark-pink, with 5 vertical bands outside.
  • Stamens 2 or 3, slightly exserted, unequal.
  • Ovary superior, oblique, ovule 1, erect, stigma.

Fruit

Achene rounded, 6-ribbed.

Seed

Minute, albuminous with endosperm. Embryo curved.

Distribution

A true and accurate accounting of the native range of Boerhavia diffusa has not been determined. However, it is very widespread, and has become naturalized in many places. It is believed[1] to be a native plant to the following places in:

  • Africa —

Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa (Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape provinces), Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

  • Asia —

Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces), India, Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan (Punjab, Sind, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan), the Philippines, Southern Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Also, on the Arabian Peninsula in Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen (Socotra).

  • North America —

Mexico, and the U.S. (in the states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina).

  • Caribbean —

Anguilla, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Jamaica, Montserrat, the Netherlands Antilles (Saba), Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and both the British and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

  • South America —

Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

  • South Pacific —

Fiji, and New Caledonia.

Economic importance

B. diffusa is widely used as a green leafy vegetable in many Asian and African countries. B. diffusa can be used as a fodder for livestock, but has the potential for contaminating seed stocks, and may harbor pathogens for certain crops, such as eggplants.[1]

Chemistry

Boerhaavia G and Boerhavia H are two rotenoids isolated from B. diffusa.[4] A quinolone alkaloid, lunamarine, isolated from B. diffusa[5] has shown some in vitro anticancer,[6] antiestrogenic,[7] immunomodulatory,[8] and anti-amoebic activity (particularly against Entamoeba histolytica).[9] The plant contains a protein called BDP-30, presumably a ribosome-inactivating protein.[10]

References
  1. Boerhavia diffusa was originally described and published in Species Plantarum 1:3. 1753. "Boerhavia diffusa". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  2. Bhowmik Debjit; Kumar K. P. Sampath; Srivastava Shweta; Paswan Shravan; Sankar Amit; Dutta Dutta (2012). "Traditional Indian Herbs: Punarnava and Its Medicinal Importance" (PDF). Research Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. 1 (1): 52–57.
  3. Sherwin Carlquist (2008). "Dispersal to Islands". Plant Discorveries : Sherwin Carlquist. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  4. Ahmed-Belkacem, A; MacAlou, S; Borrelli, F; Capasso, R; Fattorusso, E; Taglialatela-Scafati, O; Di Pietro, A (2007). "Nonprenylated rotenoids, a new class of potent breast cancer resistance protein inhibitors". Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 50 (8): 1933–8. doi:10.1021/jm061450q. PMID 17341062.
  5. "Punarnavine". Comparative Toxicogenomics Database. Salisbury Cove, Maine: Mount Desert Island Biological Lab. March 6, 2013. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  6. Manu K.A.; Kuttan G. (2009). "Punarnavine induces apoptosis in B16F-10 melanoma cells by inhibiting NF-kappaB signaling". Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention. 10 (6): 1031–1037. PMID 20192578.
  7. Sreeja S.; Sreeja S. (2009). "An in vitro study on antiproliferative and antiestrogenic effects of Boerhaavia diffusa L. extracts". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 126 (2): 221–225. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2009.08.041. PMID 19723573.
  8. Manu K.A.; Kuttan G. (2009). "Immunomodulatory activities of Punarnavine, an alkaloid from Boerhaavia diffusa". Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology. 31 (3): 377–387. doi:10.1080/08923970802702036. PMID 19555203. S2CID 2066582.
  9. Sohni YR.; Kaimal P.; Bhatt RM. (Jan 1995). "The antiamoebic effect of a crude drug formulation of herbal extracts against Entamoeba histolytica in vitro and in vivo". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 45 (1): 43–52. doi:10.1016/0378-8741(94)01194-5. PMID 7739226.
  10. Shalini Srivastava; HN Verma; Aparana Srivastava; Vivek Prasad (2015). "BDP-30, a systemic resistance inducer from Boerhaavia diffusa L., suppresses TMV infection, and displays homology with ribosome-inactivating proteins". Journal of Biosciences. 40 (1): 125–135. doi:10.1007/s12038-014-9494-0. PMID 25740147. S2CID 14332848.
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