Acalypha australis L.

Acalypha australis L.

Photo by Keisotyo

Latin Name: Acalypha australis L.; Family Euphorbiaceae

Synonym Name: Acalypha australis f. glareosa (Rupr.) H.Hara; Acalypha australis var. glareosa (Rupr.) Nakai; Acalypha australis var. lanceolata Hayata; Acalypha australis f. lanceolata (Hayata) Hurus.; Acalypha australis var. velutina Honda; Acalypha australis f. velutina (Honda) Ohwi; Acalypha chinensis Roxb.; Acalypha gemina (Lour.) Spreng.; Acalypha gemina var. lanceolata Hayata; Acalypha indica var. minima (H.Keng) S.F.Huang & T.C.Huan; Acalypha lanceolata Wall.; Acalypha minima H.Keng; Acalypha pauciflora Hornem.; Acalypha pauciflora var. glareosa Rupr.; Acalypha sessilis Poir.; Acalypha virgata Thunb.; Meterana dimidiata Raf.; Ricinocarpus australis (L.) Kuntze; Urtica gemina Lour.

English Name: Acalypha, Copperleaf, Virginia Copperleaf

Description:  Annual herbs, 0.2-0.5 m tall, monoecious. Branchlets pilose. Stipules lanceolate, 1.5-2 mm; petiole 2-6 cm; leaf blade oblong-ovate, ± rhombic-ovate, or broadly lanceolate, 3-9 × 1-5 cm, membranous, abaxially pilosulose along veins, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate, rarely obtuse, crenate, apex shortly acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, rarely terminal, unbranched, 1.5-5 cm, pilosulose, bisexual; peduncle 0.5-3 cm; female bracts proximal, 1 or 2(-4), ovate, cordate, accrescent to 1.4-2.5 × 1-2 cm in fruit, pilose, margin crenate; male portion distal, short to almost capitate, slender; bracts ovate, ca. 0.5 mm. Male flowers 5-7 per bract; pedicel ca. 0.5 mm; calyx segments 4, ca. 0.5 mm; stamens (7 or) 8. Female flowers 1-3 per bract, sessile; sepals 3, narrowly ovate, 0.5-1 mm, pilose; ovary pilose; styles 3, ca. 2 mm, 5-7-laciniate. Capsule 3-locular, ca. 4 mm in diam., pilose and tuberculate. Seeds subovoid, 1.5-2 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. Apr-Dec.

Distribution: Growing in open fields, hills and moist roadsides. Distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Yellow River, Northeast, North, South and Southwest China, Taiwan.

Part Used: Medical part: whole plant.

Chinese name: whole plant: Tiexian.

Harvest & Processing: Harvested in May–July, removed soil, sun-dried or used fresh.

Chemistry: Whole plant contains gallic acid, acalyphine, australisin, daucosterol and palmityl palmitate, emodin, beta-sitosterol, loliolide, 2,6-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone, nicotinic acid, protocatechuic acid, daucosterol, gallic acid, rutin, succinic acid, brevifolin etc.

Pharmacology: Antibiosis, paint-calming, a conditioning effect (astringent), inflammatory, antibiotic, laxative urine, stop the bleeding (hemostatic). Also Asian copperleaf are often used as a treatment basiler dysentery and amoebic dysentery, malnutrition, nosebleeds, vomiting blood, dysentery, blood urine, and malaria.

Properties & Actions: Bitter, harsh, cool. Clearing fever and damp, cooling blood and detoxifying and relieving distention.

Indications & Usage: Dysentery, diarrhea, hematemesis, non-traumatic hemorrhage, hematuria, hemafecia, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, malnutritional stagnation in infants, furuncle and ulcer and skin eczema. Oral administration: decocting, 10-15g; Fresh products: 30-60g. External application: appropriate amount, or boiled in water, and wash, or applied in smashed pattern.

Examples       

1. Infantile dyspeptic disease and diarrhea: acalypha 15g. Decoct in water for oral dose.

2. Bites by toxic snakes: acalypha, Chinese lobelia, mayflower glorybower, 30g each. Decoct in water for oral dose.

Source:

Chinese Medicinal Material Images Database

efloras.org